Consciously, Unconscious is a multimedia installation comprised of documentary photography, film, and a book. The artist plays with the juxtaposition of chaotic and serious imagery which depicts the taboo subjects of college students engaging in sex, drugs, and alcohol, and how they deal with mental health and numbing pain. The installation visually represents the environment and culture she immersed herself in both physically and emotionally throughout college.
Involuntarily, being apart of this environment her romantic relationships and friendships were affected by her peers’ mental health and substance use. Unable to understand her peers’ actions, she became curious about why some felt the need to numb themselves and distract themselves from reality while others didn’t. She voluntarily surrounded herself in this environment in order to investigate the root of her peers’ problems. By using the appellation “artist” she was able to interview, observe and document them. Her project brought forth a certain honesty and intimacy under the guise of “interviewer” and “interviewee” and “participant” and “documenter.”
This journey enabled the artist to understand her peers’ behaviors in relation to mental health and substance use. In the midst of the chaos she was able to find her own sense of belonging in an environment she struggled to fit into, and come to terms with her choice of spending most of her college career sober.
