AO1: ISSUES & CONCERNS
The IDEA!
Photography is often used to highlight important issues and concerns. Dorothea Lange documented the struggle of migrant workers during the Great Depression. For the book The Poverty Line, Stefen Chow produced photographs over a ten-year period, exploring the issue of food poverty. Olafur Eliasson highlighted concerns about global warming in his work The glacier melt series 1999/2019. In the book HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene, Jo-Anne McArthur highlights animal welfare issues. Investigate appropriate sources and produce your own response to Issues and concerns
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The core idea of this project is to look at a way to convey to the viewer the concept that for many, any form of depression or mental illness is something to be hidden, something to be ashamed of and kept obscured from general view and even those closest to them. By "Hiding behind the painful smile" the public persona we give to those around us we aim to conceal the pain we feel or the sadness and despair that rests upon our shoulders like an all consuming crushing weight.
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Researching this topic I saw that the vast majority of imagery especially the internet followed a formula with many of the same elements occurring over and over again. Specifically these images showed:
Crouched figures sitting on the floor
Heads held in hands
Pained expressions that looked as if the person was in physical pain
References to death and suicide such as hands making the shape of a gun or elements to suggest hanging.
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Almost without exception the central character is alone.
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As such I want to find a way to depict depression in a way that avoids these obvious visual cliche's but focuses instead with the persons battle to hide their pain from those around them. Researching the visual symptoms of depression most if not all can be hidden.
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On the NHS website the description of Clinical Depression states:
Depression affects people in different ways and can cause a wide variety of symptoms.
They range from lasting feelings of unhappiness and hopelessness, to losing interest in the things you used to enjoy and feeling very tearful. Many people with depression also have symptoms of anxiety.
There can be physical symptoms too, such as feeling constantly tired, sleeping badly, having no appetite or sex drive, and various aches and pains.
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The symptoms of depression range from mild to severe. At its mildest, you may simply feel persistently low in spirit, while severe depression can make you feel suicidal, that life is no longer worth living.
Most people experience feelings of stress, anxiety or low mood during difficult times. A low mood may improve after a short period of time, rather than being a sign of depression.
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The psychological symptoms of depression include:
continuous low mood or sadness.
feeling hopeless and helpless.
having low self-esteem.
feeling tearful.
feeling guilt-ridden.
feeling irritable and intolerant of others.
having no motivation or interest in things.
finding it difficult to make decisions.
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With this in mind I have focused on a person who suffers from depression and their need to hide the condition as for many a diagnosis of clinical depression is less "palatable" than more easily diagnosed conditions.
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It is therefore my intention to produce a series of images that highlight the conflict between public image and internal conflict. I plan to produce a series of images of individuals both male and female, small groups and bigger groups of people in each set up having individuals wearing a fake smile.
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As the viewer moves further away and the single person is seen as part of firstly a small group then a larger group it becomes obvious to the viewer that the original subject of the first image is in fact in each subsequent image but rather than being alone in their pain are one of many in the bigger group each dealing with their own pain.
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Below are mock ups of these images using stock pics stuck together.
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