Minor Imperfections

My lens-based series, Minor Imperfections, reveals the hidden experience of insidious cycles of my mental illness. I began this project in 2012, working intermittently, until I suffered a major depressive episode in 2020 that renewed my compulsion to create this artwork. To illustrate my struggle, I utilize collage, emulsion lift, and familiar objects to craft disjointed artwork of my face that evoke the trials of anxiety and depression. The face is our primary physical identifier, often considered the most reflective of our internal selves. When I rupture my face into multiple pieces and collage it back together, or alter the emulsion of a digital print by reconfiguring and cracking it with my fingers, it signifies my attempt to reassemble my identity after a psychological breakdown. I strive for perfection, yet, after this reconstructive surgery, the parts fail to reunify. The resulting artwork leaves fractured seams that illuminate my fragmented relationship with myself. This indicates one of the primary symptoms of my mental illness— body dysmorphia, the obsession with perceived physical flaws. A distorted relationship with my appearance extends to a painfully disrupted relationship with the world around me. In both my artwork and psyche, I scrutinize my body and mind. I continuously break, then gather and reassemble pieces of myself. My search for wholeness is an ongoing component of my creative practice and aids me in achieving a greater sense of mental wellness.