MENTAL

In America, half of all adults will be affected by or experience the affects of mental illness in their lifetime. Layers of hierarchal stigmas within the government, media, social and self, are discriminating against those that are suffering and are ultimately perpetuating the cycle. Regardless of how accepting of a community, a lot of people judge and discriminate against those that are open with/ or struggling with it.

“Mental” is a time based campaign, discussing the layered experience of mental illness. Creating a dialogue between the various layers and levels of illness, helping people who haven’t experienced any form of mental illness, try to understand and for those have have, understand that they are not a lone in the journey.

Through a series of 34 layered posters, the posters reveal layers of information over time. Showing, like mental illness, the spectrum of illness, through layers of different types of information. The campaign would illustrate the ebbs and flows of illness. The vastness of experience and to ultimately show that like mental illness, it is not a uniform experience and is like peeling an onion, there are so many layers that we as a society need to start peeling together.

I used the cut blobs in the posters to reveal layers of content. The blob shape started to become the uniform element that brings all these layers together like mental illness. The blobs represent the illnesses and communities. They are organic like illness and no two are ever the same. Ultimately with the time constraint, this project really showed me to embrace the imperfections, push yourself to be cringingly uncomfortable but to be fearless and not be to overly precious.