32 Project 3

When creating a second draft of my collage I wanted to stay on a similar track but add to it to incorporate different aspects of depression. I decided to stay with the blue and water theme while adding more elements. I added in the pill bottles and pills to represent the role medication plays in the overall realm of depression. The “Happy Pills” are personally my favorite image in this piece because of the ironic name and the misleading metaphor. The different images of texts I use add to the feeling of depression and allow others to reflect and relate on these excerpts.

When it came to the first collage I felt I had a good understanding of what depression looks like in a visual sense. Once I started the second draft and was looking for art to include I noticed there was so much more to add. I feel that although my first collage was a good visual representation of depression, this new draft adds elements that were not included before.

When first looking for images to get started I looked through my journals. Looking for words, phrases or anything that stuck out, something to start with. I took the approach of medication and pills to start. When I was experiencing my peak depression, I started on a medication that was not the right fit for me. Rather than helping me it made it worse. I felt that the “need” for medication is a very misleading part of depression and mental illness and I wanted to focus a part of my visual representation on that. Crossing out the word happy in “happy pills” alluded to this idea that medication is not always the solution.

I often noticed that throughout my journal I had reflected on feeling distant, and that it felt like I was fading off to someplace else. I wanted this element to stand out so I found the image of someone visually fading and framed it with the words “fading away”. This was on the visuals that I feel made a big impact on my piece.

I wanted to stay on the path of using water and hands to represent isolation and suffering in silence. I feel that drowning can be viewed as intense and horrifying, yet also has a sense of peace and silence. You can hear underwater and there is a sense of stillness. This was the part I liked most about my first collage that I knew I wanted to show in this one as well.