A prison is a state of confinement or captivity.
When shrouded with insecurities and doubts, wouldn???t your mental space be considered one too?
The mind can be beautiful, it allows you to create and pushes you past your limits enabling you to grow into a stronger individual. Unfortunately, the mind can also be a daunting place that can torment you, pointing out every little detail that is flawed and creating illusions to pull you even further down a spiral of loathing and self-hatred.
My insecurities and doubts have kept me living my life to the fullest. When I was younger I kept hearing the same things repeat in my head, ???I???m not pretty enough???, ???I???m not thin enough???, ???I’m not good enough.??? And since I was never told otherwise I believed it to be true. For the longest time, all I could see were imperfections, and since I was so focused on the negative, anytime there was a positive growth in my life I could never see it.
Now that I???m older I???m handling myself much better. I???m still insecure and have my doubts, but I???ve grown to see my self-worth, and I???ve learned better ways to help myself when I???m not doing too well mentally. It???s times like these I want to thank my younger self for being so strong, and more importantly for having unwavering optimism while holding onto the uncertainty that things could get better.
For this illustration I wanted to capture that type of journey of escaping that mental prison, more so the aftermath. I wanted there to be a more uplifting message left behind. We all know the mind can be a dangerous place but not everyone knows that it???s possible to escape it. I used mirrors to stand in as the reflection of one???s self, and there are multiple because you can see yourself through multiple ways plus it builds an overwhelming presence. Such as, it???s you against your reflections that amplify your faults and imperfections. But now all these mirrors are broken with daffodils growing in the openings. This is to suggest that those past reflections of yourself no longer exist. You broke those mirrors as to say you broke the illusions you previously once saw, meaning that your perceived faults and imperfections no longer hold you down. The daffodils stand for rebirth and new beginnings, meaning in this situation that you???ve broken through your prison and now you???re starting anew, building yourself into the person you want to be.
It was fun to explore the idea of what a prison could be, as well as drifting away from the obvious solution to make for this illustration. Besides, I think it???s fun to give a more positive spin on topics you would automatically deem as more depressing.
Well, that???s all for now! Until next time!