Art Therapy

This is a selection of work from my final major project about a year ago. I became very influenced and driven by my favourite photographer Lauren Greenfield's project Thin, and created a documentary about my own eating disorder. I'd done something similar previously, but I took a more mature approach to it this time, as I had a lot more time to concentrate on it. The project was photography based, and above you will see some drawings based on the photographs. This selection of photographs was based on the figure and different curves and different ways in which the body is able to twist and move.  The first image of the sketchbook was based on drawings and typography styles, with different quotes and written experiences I went through with my eating disorder.

The next photoshoot I did was all about sequence, and showing events in the way that things would usually happen. I decided to by my own model because I don't think it would have been as believable any other way because the emotion and tension wouldn't have been there in the photographs. 

My last lot of photographs was of some diary entries I made in the time of my Eating Disorder, writing things down helped me a lot because I didn't really feel I could talk about what I was going through, and it was suggested to me that I kept some kind of journal, because at least that way I was getting it out. Alot of people  seemed shocked by my choice of project, and I did have to confess to my tutors it was based on myself as they were getting very suspicious of how I knew so much about eating disorders. I think once they actually knew, it was easier for them to look at and understand as well. My original project idea was to create a campaign for raising awareness for adolescent mental health, but I was finding it hard to create without using my own personal experiences and once I began doing this, the project meant a lot more to me. I am quite open about everything that happened to me because I don't think anyone should have to feel trapped in there own bodies, and it has made me who I am today. As much as it was hard to concentrate on the project sometimes, I'm glad I did it because it was a kind of Art Therapy for me, and like Andy Warhol once said 'the more you do something, the better and emptier you feel'; and once it was out there I didn't feel the need to hide it any more.