Rachel Doub

 

These particular art works were created while exploring my experience with anxiety and depression. When I was in high school I began experiencing severe anxiety and depression that took a toll on my quality of life and continues to affect my life as an adult. I have recently realized that my silence towards my experience is an injustice to those also suffering. My vision for this grouping of works is to display the truth of anxiety and depression and raise awareness for those dealing with mental illness. I would like for this work to show others dealing with the same issues that they are not alone and to share my personal experiences with those who have never been affected by depression or anxiety.

Specific inspiration for this body of work came from my experience that I had in a special topics painting class instructed by Rubens Ghenov and Katie Gentner. In this experience we were blindfolded and videoed standing in a circle singing a song of our choice. During this exercise we could not hear our voices or any more than a few fragments of our peers singing. At the end of this experience there was a sense of release that swept across the room. The specific endorphin rich feeling that I felt after singing got me to thinking about this temporary escape that we indulged ourselves in. For someone with depression and anxiety, the feeling of bliss is always temporary. In this class I began exploring my feelings toward the “sinner inside” we name anxiety and depression. This specific set of work under this topic will include the specific time I spent with my thoughts when I was glued to my bed with hopelessness.

This group of works will not end here. I plan on exploring the feelings of depression and anxiety that have haunted people from the beginning of time. I hope to dedicate this show to the special people in my life who suffer from anxiety and depression, and to raise awareness for a topic I feel is commonly unheard, misunderstood, and underrepresented.