An evocative art piece that seeks to convey the inner chaos of the artist’s mental state. It is based on their experience of mental health services, of being dismissed and treated as ‘crazy’ when they attempt to address their difficulties by bringing them to the attention of medical professionals.

Although there has been a call to talk about mental health in recent years, the stigma of actually doing so is tough to shift. Society says it wants those with mental health struggles to talk about them, then makes them feel as though they are ‘too much’ when they attempt to express what’s going on inside their head. What many don’t realise is that this problem extends beyond family and friends and into the medical field, with patients being ignored and overmedicated in order to make them quieter and easier to deal with.

With this piece the artist places their negative thoughts front and centre, the words represent the negative voices in their head that are hard to ignore yet even harder to get others to acknowledge. The highlighting of these thoughts forces the viewer to confront them and to recognise that many others have similar thoughts and experiences that are not being expressed.

The artist aims to encourage honest discussion of these experiences, and to challenge dismissive medical attitudes towards them. Showing viewers that they deserve to have their lived-experiences listened to and treated with gravity and respect.