Erika Snyder

“The relationship between the body and mind is vital as it influences mental awareness and the subconscious. Visions of life, the beyond and the physical embodiments of mental illness culminate to form a display in mixed media drawings. The aggressive and repetitive nature of my process makes for a meditative experience of a flustered mind. I relate a sense of attachment with a palette of strong, vivid and vibrant color. The deep and eerie spaces construct a feeling of the unknown, and how that state of mind can be translated. My connection with these stimuli is created and yet, can be fractured.

The abstract concept of mental illness is physically embodied with manipulatable materials. Such forms refer to the feelings of daily life living with a mental illness. Forms are repetitive, numerous and interactive with their environment. In the process of building, the monotonous nature of the work acts as a meditative and healing process. The sculptures play with repulsion versus attraction with colors that correlate to flesh, blood and fat. In that lies a culture that romanticizes mental illness instead of understanding the traumatic repercussions of suffering from one.”