Vivid Constellations, 2021

Painting to me is like a form of therapy, so with vivid constellations, I spent one to two hours a day for a year and a half just painting what I felt that day. I didn’t think very much about what I wanted people to see; I fully focused on what I ...

Painting to me is like a form of therapy, so with vivid constellations, I spent one to two hours a day for a year and a half just painting what I felt that day. I didn’t think very much about what I wanted people to see; I fully focused on what I wanted to feel when I looked at vivid constellations and what I wanted other people to feel when they looked at it. I started creating this painting the same year I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so it really showed me how mental health can really affect a person, and I see that through vivid constellations. It shows my challenges with mental health, my ability to overcome mental health through therapy, medication, and art, and how weird and different mental health can be for every person. Vivid constellations ended up turning into a bunch of different images that I think every person, when they look at it, they see something new. Even though I didn’t attempt to make images, it still mostly just turned into a bunch of different weird images all mushed together. That’s why I find vivid constellations so beautiful; it illustrates that mental health doesn’t have to be a barrier, but rather a catalyst for growth. It serves as a reminder that despite our struggles, we have the power to transform adversity into something beautiful and inspiring. And that, to me, is the essence of vivid constellations.