My artwork poses the question: “Are we taking care of ourselves?” My mixed media works deal with the subjects of physical health and mental health. Drawing inspiration from events that I have encountered personally or am curious about, I begin with the idea of medication.
In my work, I depict medicine bottles in different forms, experimenting with media. In my paintings, installations and photographs the medicine bottles are constant, they form a conceptual line in my practice. As I walk around pharmacies, I have always been curious about how many bottles of medication are being prescribed. Personally having a prescription myself, I can't help but wonder who shares the same prescription. How many different medications are there in the world? In a pharmacy, there are rows of medication that are being restocked over and over again. The endless amounts of trips to Kaiser’s pharmacy to fill my medication and the endless lines waiting to get it is an ongoing part of my life, a ritual of survival. Being surrounded by people who are waiting for medication, which comes in a little orange container, the same container, no matter what the medicine, makes this humble object a symbol regarding health.
My research is a key part of how I create a body of work. Collecting archives of images, writing down my thoughts, drawing, or swatching different colors everyday is not only meditative for me but it's also integral to how I create my work. There are ideas in my sketchbook that I may not even recognize at first, but having a place to pull from is important as part of my process and shows how I translate the process into my work.
For instance, my tile installations use my research from articles about illness, printed onto waterslide decal paper. I print the text so that the viewer has to read it backwards. This emulates the side effects/symptoms of different health issues. The hexagon is also pulled from my sketchbook as I have repeatedly drawn the shape and looked into its significance in the world of health. The hexagon shape is considered to be the most fascinating, powerful, and harmoniously balanced shape but it's also a shape used for chemical structures and formulas such as serotonin and dopamine.
The swatches that appear in my work also originated in my sketchbook. For the Self-Isolation Pandemic Artist’s Residency Program I created several paintings of tylenol and advil, medications that were being talked about at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Should we take one or the other? Which would exacerbate the virus if it was in our system? This is a global issue we all hear about everyday. When will there be a cure? These were the thoughts in my mind as I created these pieces with a plexiglass overlay showing the different colors I was using and just how thin each layer of paint is. Just like life, plexiglass is thin and fragile, and we are seeing it everywhere as a “shield” against the spread of the coronavirus because it’s transparent enough to see what’s on the other side. Exploring imagery surrounding the coronavirus during this time is important in my work. My work can expand to address different topics within the health world, especially now, focusing on something that we all have in common.
In my most recent work, I’ve pulled images of hospital hallways from my archives. They depict an environment rather than a single subject. The element of isolation in these are consistent with the rest of my work. In these paintings, there is no human present, it is a space of solitude. While there is no visible medicine bottle, we know they are there. The hospital itself is a repository, ultimately tying back to the individual medicine bottle paintings.
Overall, I intend for my work to be a part of a conversation. The viewer can approach my work and converse internally, or start a conversation with someone else. Our individual struggles may seem solitary, but when the taboo surrounding health is broken, we can see clearly that we are alone. As an artist, I hope that my work offers validation that someday, will be universal. I believe that there shouldn’t be a taboo about the discussion of one’s health. The struggles one goes through are valid and need to be validated by the world. There are so many things in the world that we cannot control. Death is inevitable; regardless, each day, we take our doses, trying to stay healthy enough to get older. To cheat death.
Extra Notes and Thoughts
Even while reading and writing about mental health to include in my artwork I have found several interesting notes to point out. The idea of therapy sessions is more than attending a weekly appointment. It’s an intense time where you are trying to get an insight into what is going on with our minds and life but the sessions are limited to an hour. This is just not enough time so journaling has been a key idea to many struggling with mental health, a form of self-therapy. Writing is a great way to focus and articulate thoughts and feelings.
I find as well in my research schools and jobs are not capable of helping people with mental illness and it is not their fault because of HIPPA. HIPPA being a security rule requires healthcare practices and professionals to secure PHI, which is great but also has its downfalls when it comes to if this is making mental illness, is something to be ashamed of. We can’t talk about it at work or school unless we speak that we do deal with mental health and this may be another leading reason why mental health is a kept secret.
Is health something people are willing to talk about? It’s a subject most are unwilling to discuss. Will there always be a taboo to keep things private about one’s health? My purpose with my artwork is to encourage people to question health as a whole and to help the viewer face their own demons.