Love Sorrow Self Portrait

I have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Love Sorrow, a self-portrait series, examines my relationship to mental illness. I am interested in the concept of duality and the dichotomy of light and dark. Through the visual metaphor of a split image, I depict the intensity, as potent as the contrast between black and white, of feeling internally fractured. I frequently question whether I am in control of my own fate or if I am bound to follow a predetermined path. Am I able to create my own identity or is it predetermined in my genetic makeup to be hindered by mental illness? The intertwined strings reaching across the photograph hearken to the Greek mythology of Moirai, commonly known as the Fates, symbolizing my brushes with death, journey in recovery, and struggle to secure stability. The digital and physical manipulation of the image acts as a reconciliation between the creation of my own identity and what I have inherited.

Natalie Brescia is an artist working within the mediums of photography, printmaking, and multimedia. She received her BA in Fine Art at the University of California–Santa Cruz and currently manages the digital imaging studio within the Art Department at UCSC. Her work encompasses photographic narratives rooted in the dissection of identity, queerness, personal disclosure, psychoanalysis, and memory. For contact information and to see more of Natalie’s artwork, please visit nataliebrescia.com.