My work relates to my own experience with childhood mental illness. I developed depression and severe panic attacks very young- too young to understand them for what they were. It was a time of confusion and deep shame, but it could have been so much easier had it been explained to me what a mental illness was, that it was treatable and that it wasn’t my fault.
This work is a gift to my past self- an arrangement of jewellery-like pieces depicting two visual representations of my struggles: The Tiger- my anger and fear, while also the strength and resilience that it built, and The Chicken- my cowardice and shame, but also the greater sense of peace and awareness that I gained.
Neither are ‘bad’ or evil entities, they are just natural beings who might scream and cry and flail and fight but when they tire themselves out and the danger inevitably subsides, they will rest. The message is that it’s ok to have to fight sometimes, and peace will always come.
