Anxiety can be extremely lonely. As someone who has had to live with it for years, it has been almost impossible to describe to other people. This painting is one of my attempts at displaying my anxiety and its effects through artwork. When I was younger I would often feel overwhelmed by the things people wanted from me, seemingly ordinary things like holding up a conversation or sharing about my day. What was going on inside my brain was so much to handle that I could not deal with the weight of other people’s desires and expectations. I tried to represent this staggering weight in the hands that grip onto me, threading through my hair or grasping my neck. The “elephant” in this painting, so to speak, is the faucet protruding from my mouth. My intention here was to express the way I wanted to help provide for others (give them water) the way they so desperately need it (the hand cupping the few drops coming out), however it was incredibly difficult. The faucet is broken and no matter how hard you twist the handle, it will only leak, never flow.
