Naturally, when on a medical journey to any sort of recovery, you must experience the rollercoaster of treatment discovery and modification. Often times, this entails a turbulent ride mentally, physically and emotionally for the lucky one in need of treatment. In my own journey, I've needed to bounce between and overlap medications for different conditions. Inevitably bad reactions, side effects and withdrawal symptoms due to treatment modification occasionally left me in a dissociative, depersonalized, or derealized state. "Disconnected" is intended to embody this complete overhaul to my psyche that I have been forced to embody several times throughout my own ongoing medical journey.
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ReplyDeleteFor the transformative portrait project, Savannah DeMao's Disconnected work is expressive in the composite that combines both moving and static imagery. We have an image of Savannah themselves, there appears to be a pill floating over her head, and streams of her eyes going in and out. In the background, it looks like Savannah’s eyes are in the back but just scaled a lot bigger. Savannah also has a neutral expression which I strongly think helps with her concept.
ReplyDeleteSavannah has a neutral emotion or it could also simply be no emotion. They are not happy nor unhappy but simply in a state of being. Savannah states that they had to bounce between and overlap medications for different conditions. With the description Savannah has provided, her work expresses how it has left them in a dissociative, depersonalized, or in a derealized state. The imagery does reflect that very well. There seem to be no thoughts behind those eyes although we cannot see their eyes. We see the dreadfulness coming out of their eyes. The portrait seems to be more of a psychological state due to the effects of medication Savannah.
The color of the work gives it a melancholy mood. The pill is also another clue. But if I were to guess it was a pill that made a person happy or better, the image itself may be brighter. In this case, because they interact with other medications and their well-being, it negatively affects them. The eyes also give a clue it seems like a dreadful cry.
The pill moves in a way that it seems to be controlling the way they are crying. The pill may reflect how Savannah's emotions, and physical, and mental state of being are constantly changing. It is something that they cannot control and they may wish to control but it is all in the hands of the medications. As the pill is floating over her head like a halo, I think that signifies that it is a higher being than Savannah herself.
In society, people can take medication for reasons such as mental, psychological, and physical, diseases, to help cure them, ease symptoms, and much more. In certain cases, it may benefit those in the long run. But although it can benefit them, it can negatively affect their mood, they physically can change, mentally they can change, and affects their overall well-being. Not being to be in control of yourself and having to rely on medication can feel like a burden. Even when people do get off these medications, having to deal with those changes is also not as easy. Even if people try to find a placebo or alternative, at the end of the day they are still trying to rely on something else.
Overall, Savannah has demonstrated well their disconnected state from themselves and the medication. The use of color, the image of herself, the pill, and the cry for help within the eyes complete the transformative portrait project. If I were to add more to this composition, I would add different types of pills to show the effects of the different medications. To also tie that with the motion, having the stream of eyes go left to right shows how the different medications interact with each other and yourself.