Completed for Digital Photography (PHT116) at CSU.
Reflection
My photographs represent the dark reality of living with mental illness and the all-consuming effect it has had on my past, present and potential future.
Through my photographs, I have drawn on the use of a single object, the skull. The isolated skull represents the struggle of the body, contrasted to the changing textures of the mind and the realities which lie within.
I have crafted each image to connect to the conceptual and visualised each photograph through technical, compositional and post-processing decisions. These selections ensured the authentic meaning is received individually and as part of a series.
My past is a complicated realm of delusion, hallucination and fear. The sense of a poisonous, piercing, entity which reaches out to grab you, is illustrated by the sharp textures of the plants which surround the skull. The mind, twisted in black and white, experiences light only in the spurs that drive the illusions.
My present is balanced, but always fighting between two worlds to maintain a measured level of control. I am living a slightly out of focus, withdrawn experience as I contemplate the internal daily battles which dictate and motivate to secure the walls from crumbling in.
My future is an untold tale, dawning on a new day with the complications of the past and the uncertainty of what tomorrow shall bring. The friction of personal history cannot be replaced or fabricated by transcendent light. The struggles of the mind are continuous, shadowed and unknown.
Mental illness has heavily influenced my past present and future. Through the barbed delusions of my history, to the balance of today and the concealed existence of tomorrow, my images visually illustrate the obscure conflict between the physical and the psyche forever clasped in a battle to regain balance and control.
