Isabel Nelson

Recent unprecedented events around the world have highlighted the awareness and importance of our wellbeing. Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems, which can be both debilitating and desperately lonely – I can speak from personal experience. From a young age I have suffered from anxiety, and have put coping mechanisms in place to stop me feeling so anxious. Using my love for both film and architecture, I have found ways to immerse myself in my artwork, which has given me an escape route and a purpose. For my degree show I have decided to create three pieces that show how anxiety affects me. Escapism in art diverts the viewer and the artist away from their daily struggles. ‘Escapism’ was created using ink and watercolour. It is a collage of buildings from around the world, catching glimpses of places I would rather escape to. The piece can be viewed in a number of ways – from a person being trapped behind the buildings, and not having the courage to escape, to a person viewing a world they would prefer to be in. ‘Losing Control’, is a digital drawing of an immersive scene to draw the viewer in. It is of a person falling backwards through towering buildings into the unknown. Often with Anxiety, you can feel like things are getting out of control and you are falling into a lonely, dark place. ‘Anxiety Entwined’ is created with charcoal and graphite. I have drawn my hair weaving into the buildings entwining thoughts from my head. The crammed buildings represent overthinking and the anxiety in my mind.