The Depression Workshop is a way for me to engage with my personal depression and how I deal with it through images. These visuals may seem to amplify sentiments of melancholy, yet they serve to acknowledge the presence of internal battles. Each piece operates within the context of the whole collection. Snippets of found footage are carefully selected and rephotographed, focusing on segments that resonate with the emotional state. Then carefully AI is used to extend the „hidden“ messages of my own experience.
The majority of the found footage comprises TV commercials, Social Media and self-help workshops, reflecting the pervasive influence of the culture of social media and television on my experience of depression. Observing the curated behaviors and messages on social media platforms and within capitalist-driven commercials often exacerbates stress, introducing unnecessary pressure into aspects of life where it shouldn‘t exist. The past two decades have had a profound impact on our behaviors, contributing significantly to the emergence of a generation of depressed individuals among Gen Zers and Millennials, I am somewhere inbetween. While these images offer multifaceted interpretations, their meaning is inevitably shaped by the observer. In post-edit, color is infused into distinct sections to mirror the tendency to sugarcoat emotions when discussing them.