In my surreal composition, I am exploring themes of mental illness and the behaviors expressed in childhood. Particularly, for me, this piece is exemplifying a more humorous and chaotic approach to my own personal mental struggles. Things may be visual or audial, or completely non-tangible, so I found that slightly difficult to express. I incorporated familiar things, such as Harambe and a Halloween mask, but in a different way that is slightly unfamiliar and more akin to the experience that I live in. Pitbull, Minecraft’s void, and other specific memories are present here, but in ways that feel unfamiliar and different. Images present from dreams of mine are here, which makes this feel like a nightmare piece to me. The message can be boiled down to the thoughts of a child, with the mind of an old man, in the body of a teenager, if that makes sense.
For this composition, I used multiple Photoshop filters and a lot of images to layer and create a sense of depth, while some things are purposefully not like the way that they would be experienced in real life. I layered different images, like static and an ocean to have certain layers to the piece that would’ve been hard to express otherwise.
I find it cathartic to create surreal compositions, expressing thoughts and emotions that I haven’t thought about in a while. I’m in a transitional period in my life at the time of making this, so this also exemplifies my mental state, scattered and without clear focus, but everything in perfect clarity. In dreams, I often find it difficult or impossible to move my body, which can create situations which scare me, as they often turn into nightmares, so the purpose of this piece is to show that feeling of being trapped in stagnation during a transition here, what with the multiple different routes that could be the “next” part of this dream.
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