Head. Shot. (Anxiety)
- Copper and acrylic on canvas
- 18 x 18 in
- $150
- Bex Hansen
As an artist who struggles with several mental health disorders, my pieces frequently represent those themes. The pieces submitted for this show reflect this in different ways. "Head. Shot. (Anxiety)" is an artistic interpretation of brain scans representing an "ordinary" brain compared to a brain plagued with anxiety. It is made from copper that has been patinaed in different ways to create the different colors of the scan. It is a natural process - just like being neurodiverse is just natural differentiations in brain chemistry. People like to tell people like me that my disorders are "all in my head" - well, that is true. "Random. Access." This piece utilizes some small brains combined with old floppy disks. Taking mental health meds can impact short-term memory, and this piece reminds us that brains are not disks where we can access elements whenever we want. Sometimes what we remember is random."Shuttered. Words." The third piece represents what I've been told about my disorders over the past decade—don't tell anyone, just try to pass for "normal." Built on an old shutter, it is covered with old journal pages of mine that detail some of the moments in my life that brought me to anxiety and PTSD. Those words are then covered with a screen that is nailed down. As you can see, some of the pages just can't be contained and poke through the screen around the edge and through the middle. Instead of hiding those words away in journals, they should be shouted from the roof tops, so this does just so with the red spray paint.
Bio:
As a person who struggles with several mental health disorders, her art frequently carries those themes through unusual mediums. Coming from a "waste not, want not" background, she eagerly seeks ways to reuse elements. She's created pieces from old floppy disks, used shutters for canvases, and sculpted wedding dresses from divorce papers.
- Collections: Fragility and Fortitude