Mental illness is something that many of us struggle with. My own experience coping with mental illness has inspired this theme for my capstone. I have taken medications to combat my depression, OCD, and anxiety for many years, but lately, have become interested in the holistic side of healing due in part to my time here at Lesley.

I tend to have a difficult time keeping my spaces clean and tidy. I did, however, notice that when I clean up my spaces at home and at work, I feel a little better and can breathe easier. I became fascinated by this idea that keeping a clean environment can have a positive effect on mental health. I created this art with the idea in mind that when things are a mess on the outside, it makes me feel messier on the inside, and overwhelmed. I chose to work with different kinds of fabric and yarn, embroidery, and needle felting. I chose the yarn and fabric to be a metaphor for “the mess”, and the needle felting to be a metaphor for “the clean”. I used the yarn and fabric for the mess part of my piece because those materials are the hardest for me to contain and keep neat in my apartment. I decided to have the yarn and fabric to act as a curtain, and underneath reveals the needle felting. 

In the middle of my artmaking, we got hit with this worldwide pandemic, and my theme felt even more relevant. Feeling like the whole world had become a mess in the blink of an eye severely triggered all of my mental illnesses. My house fell in disarray and I lost my motivation to clean, let alone create. When I heard we could still go for a walk, I began doing so on nice weather days, and I discovered that nature and fresh air helped me clear my thoughts, and breathe. At that moment, my art transformed itself outward: from the interior spaces of home to the world in which we live.