My work primarily explores themes of mental health, and the consequent impact it can have on artworks produced. My aim is to capture the essence of changing mental health through portraiture and installation pieces; looking at the kind of people I draw, their characters and poses, and what medium I use to reflect emotion.
I have focused on journaling my own mental health after experiencing trauma, creating daily pieces to then exhibit together to see how delicate and complicated mental health is, and show how expressing feelings creatively can be therapeutic, as well as looking at the resulting impact on an audience. I wanted to look in particular at mental health after trauma; as I wanted to examine the journey you take creatively, emotionally and mentally as a result. I also wanted to look at the metaphors in my work; layering as a way of hiding emotion, how to display work in order to reflect how survivors of trauma may feel. This also relates to my dissertation on art and how it may positively affect rape culture, and how feminist political art already has promoted societal change.
Another aspect of my work is photography, as I want to capture ‘real life’ in a way my audience can relate. I then layer images or take from them, by scratching parts away, to represent that what you see isn’t always necessarily the full picture. My work therefore shows how people may portray their lives differently from how they actually are, with particular reference to social media to confirm this theory and understand why.
Mae fy ngwaith yn ystyried themâu iechyd meddwl yn bennaf a’r effaith dilynol a allai gael ar weithiau celf. Fy nod ydy dal hanfod iechyd meddwl cyfnewidiol drwy bortreadau a gosodiadau: edrych ar y math o bobl rydw i‘n eu lluniadu, eu cymeriadau a’u hosgo a pha gyfrwng rydw i‘n ei ddefnyddio i gyfleu emosiwn.
Rydw i wedi ffocysu ar gofnodi fy iechyd meddwl fy hun ar ôl profi trawma, gan greu darnau yn ddyddiol ac yna eu harddangos gyda’i gilydd i weld pa mor eiddil a chymhleth ydy iechyd meddwl a dangos sut gall mynegi teimladau yn greadigol fod yn therapiwtig, yn ogystal ag ystyried yr effaith ganlyniadol ar gynulleidfa. Roeddwn am ystyried yn arbennig iechyd meddwl ar ôl trawma gan mod i am ystyried y daith yr ydych yn ei chymryd yn greadigol, yn emosiynol ac yn feddyliol o ganlyniad. Roeddwn hefyd am ystyried y trosiadau yn fy ngwaith, yr haenu er mwyn cuddio emosiwn, sut i arddangos fy ngwaith er mwyn adlewyrchu’r modd y byddai pobl sy’n goroesi trawma efallai’n teimlo. Mae hyn hefyd yn berthnasol i fy nhraethawd hir ar gelf a sut gallai effeithio’n bositif ar hinsawdd trais a sut mae celf gwleidyddol ffeministaidd eisoes wedi hyrwyddo newid cymdeithasegol.
Agwedd arall ar fy ngwaith ydy ffotograffiaeth gan fy mod am ddal ‘bywyd go iawn’ mewn ffordd a fyddai’n berthnasol i fy nghynulleidfa. Rydw i wedyn yn haenu darn llawn delweddau neu dynnu oddi wrthyn nhw drwy grafu rhannau er mwyn portreadu nad y darlun llawn yw’r hyn a welwch bob amser. Mae fy ngwaith felly yn dangos sut mae pobl yn portreadu eu bywyd yn wahanol efallai i’r hyn yw mewn gwirionedd gan gyfeirio’n benodol at y cyfryngau cymdeithasol i gadarnhau’r ddamcaniaeth hon a deall y rheswm pam.
