Manic Neurology With Electrifying Self-Portraiture That Expresses Anxiety | Alternative Fruit

Kate Miller-Wilson Static Series

For people with mental health concerns, the mind is not a safe place. With continual input from the sub-conscious sea and the world at large, the learned thinking patterns continue to plague us. The travel from notion to notion, emotion to emotion, is seemingly random. Finding the strength to put up a resistance to the mental processes of depression, despair, and panic is not easy. We have to be super-human in order to be the black knight of our own thoughts. Often it takes two or more to really help a person begin thinking in more healthy ways.


Photographer and visionary artist Kate Miller-Wilson recently published a selection of self-portraits which show all of us how manic thoughts travel. Her series is titled Static and consists of double exposure photography. The thing which makes these stand out is that the second image is made by exposing the film to static electricity. The random flow of charge through the air as a spark catches is very similar to the striking anguish that mental-health issues can deliver. A sudden flash of multiple edged tension rips through the image of self in a metaphorical rush of anxiety.


Insulating the mind from this emotional pain is often a matter for a doctor, varying drugs can alleviate the symptoms. Learning new patterns of thought and finding the strength to stand up to and disagree with the painful offerings your mind produces is much easier when the noise is turned down. Perhaps these images can show those of us who have not experienced poor mental-health that it's not something we are able to control on our own. We need insulation, wires, and all kinds of components to get the voltage flowing in a way that helps.


You can see more images and read about how Kate Miller-Wilson achieved this in her article on PetaPixel.  
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Kate Miller-Wilson Static Series