I’ve been brainstorming every night this week, trying to seriously entertain any idea that floats into my mind. Contrary to what I was thinking a few days ago, I don’t think I want to depict the actual act of hiding something. The visuals I came up with were so terribly cliche that I decided that I didn’t want to go that route. I realized tonight that what this project is really about is living a dual life. When I was at the height of my depression, I would spend all of my energy during the day trying to appear happy. Then at the end of the day I would come home and explode.
I’m trying to think about how I could represent the mask I wore during the day. My thought was to merge the smiles with the anguished figures, so I put together a really really rough sketch in Photoshop, using my own face on top of one of the figures. I don’t know what to think, it’s either really awful or incredibly unsettling in a good way. What do you think?
Clara Lieu 
I think it can be an excellent concept, BUT there needs to be higher contrast/ anguish/ fake-ness in body or face. I’m only a student, but with the example you’ve shown, I feel the body is too strong in contrast with the face. But if Ithe balance/ contrast is correct …. Could be brilliant as long as your passion is still there. You don’t want to force it. Maybe moving onto a completely different emotion/ theme would be viable. In reality, most of us have conflicting/ contrasting emotions. For example…. No ” real” person/ artist would think less of you if you decided to paint ” flowers” for a month then returned to your HIDING theme. We are human. Sometimes exploring a different emotion/ feeling brings us back in hi-def to what we were trying to say before!
Good point, and a great reminder.
Hi, I like the idea. Have you thought of cropping the head or blurring part of the face/body … and think of a significant title for the work?
I think it’s a good move—-I can’t decide if it’s unsettling or somewhat peaceful. There’s something about the over-worked body put with the effortless way the face is handled…. (a result of the photo, but still). It’s a portrait of a woman doing a “laugh-cry.” beautiful and weird in that way….
I like the idea as a starting point. Another thing that might work is if you have all of these exaggerated poses with the body, and then a blank/numb/thoughtful expression on the face. Just a thought.
“living a dual life. When I was at the height of my depression, I would spend all of my energy during the day trying to appear happy. Then at the end of the day I would come home and explode.”
The transitioning from day to night makes me think of an old fashioned grandfather clock. With each tick-tock, I envision the “happy” person is slowly transforming into the “exploding depressed person”. Within a 24 hour period, you can do a time lapse photography of a person making the transition. Instead of photography, it would be your drawings of course. The installation would be an empty room, the image projected on a huge wall, and the tick tock sound.
Of course, this would require the exhibit to be open 24 hours so that we can see the entire transition! Anyway, just a brain storm idea… I really enjoy reading your posts and getting to put my fine artist hat on again. =)
Sandra, this is a great idea and would work as a animated drawing…