Tara Hanley is a printmaker and painter. Tara’s work often focuses on mental health along with nature and the occult. Her project this semester explores the struggle of depression. In this project she reflects on the feelings of despair and isolation that consume a person experiencing depression and the strength required to overcome it. Her project portrays just how dull and sinister this illness can be. She combines her love for medieval and gothic art to create stark and detailed imagery. She uses only black and white to reflect the sense that there is no colour or passion left in life. In Tara’s work she reflects on the hopeless feelings that consume someone experiencing depression. The feeling that there is no motivation to act or do anything yet the person is left hopelessly watching their life pass them by and the feeling of despair only increases as they think of all the things they are missing out on and all the things they could achieve if they could just somehow escape their own mind. In her work she portrays depression as a dragon accompanied with a dark and gloomy sky. The dragon lurks in the background waiting to approach and attack. Tara takes a visual story telling approach in this project to immerse the viewer in the experience and take them on a journey. In this story there is a knight battling this dragon. The knight is weary and desperate. They can not escape the storm clouds and the dragon in the distance but the story goes on to show the strength required to battle this storm and the hope at the end of the battle. Tara’s work has a deeply sentimental and personal approach. She uses pen illustration, painting, lino and screen print to bring the project to life.