Suffocated
All my images here that I took represent my depression. This specific image is called "Suffocate". I called it this because with the depression I go through I tend to feel like the depression suffocates me and somehow holds authority in my life. It's also called this because I picture my depression as myself underwater looking up. When you look up through water you can see whats there, but everything is out of focus and blurry, thats how I feel. I know all the goals and possibilities are still out there and available for me to grab but it has somehow faded from the vibrance it once had. I wanted this picture to be a headshot to capture the details of the wet blanket over myself and the distorted image of myself underneath it "suffocating".
Broken Bones
I called this photograph "Broken Bones" because I also feel as if the depression breaks me. It can break you mentally and physically. The background is grey because in a world of depression all the vibrance is taken away from everything in the world, somehow turns everything "numb" and ends up having you live in a "grey bubble" compared to other people. I used double exposure in this picture to add the texture to myself. I wanted this certain texture because it represents yourself somewhat decaying over time.
Shattered Mind
I called this photograph "Shattered Mind" because when you have depression, the neurons that sends signals in your brain can't complete it's tasks. There are less levels of serotonin in your brain which then leads to less communication because serotonin allows the "electronic waves" from the neurons to bounce from one another thus creating a "full thought or idea". The "Shattered Mind" represents the shattered connections of the brain waves and the background I used with double exposure also ties in with all of this as well. With depression you tend to have a lot of intrusive thoughts which can mentally break you. All of these images I shared with you today allows you to see a little bit of me from the inside out.
Final Research Essay
Name of Artist: Christian Hopkins
Dates of Artists Life: December 17, 1992
Source: Emailed Photographer ([email protected])
1. Personal Background: (5 sentences. Culture, nationality, schooling, important life events, etc.)
Christian Hopkins is a 25 year old photographer and lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. From the age of 16, Hopkins struggled with severe clinical depression. He found himself using photography as a form of therapy. He was enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania studying biochemistry. Hopkins started on flicker and admired others self portraits but couldn’t see any that expressed what he was feeling; this was the spark that wanted him to make those photographs himself. There were two important events that lead him to his photography. The trip he took to China with his family was one of them. His parents got him his first camera for the trip which was a small point-and-shoot. He had no intention on using it but it was fancy enough at the time that he felt guilty for not using it at all. He ended up bringing it along with him but had not intention on taking pictures of everything he saw. He took pictures of small unimportant things and found beautiful in their own way. While taking these pictures he found moments that he didn’t think existed until he started looking for them. “Instead of distracting me from the world, the camera made the world around me so much more vivid and full of character”. The second life event that sparked his photography was when he was diagnosed with major depression. After trying to commit suicide he was placed in the hospital for three months missing the first half of his senior year. For the second half, a requirements for the senior students was to engage in an independent project. His project was taking pictures in his bedroom because he was uncomfortable speaking or being around others. When Hopkins was in the hospital he found many photographers that used self portraits for emotional expression. Tormented with self-destructive thoughts, he felt beyond control. He reached out for something to regain that control: photography. “It was liberating, even if just for a moment, to be able to take a thought out of my head and trap it in a photograph, and if I could look at one of my photographs and instantly know the thought or feeling it represented, then it would mean that I understood that emotion that was plaguing me, and with that understanding came the control I was so desperate to recover.”
2. Style: (5 sentences. What visual characteristics does this artist’s work possess? If you can compare it to a painting or art history please do.)
Hopkins photographs express his depression he constantly goes through. He used his thoughts that constantly infest him to create the photographs you see today. His photographs are surreal self portraits along with photo manipulation to create the strong emotions that he struggles with everyday. An array of his pictures perfectly captures the abominable thoughts and feelings trapped inside his mind. Hopkins depression fuels the creativity in his photographs and creates life within them. He was influenced by a photographer named Aaron Nace. Nace opened Hopkins eyes to how you can go beyond the limits of what’s just in front of the lense and what you can manipulate with imagination and reality.
3. Philosophy: (5 sentences. What were the major ideas behind this artist’s work? Where their personal, political, social, etc. What were they trying to “say” with their photographs?)
Hopkins wants the viewer to see themselves in his photography: "What I want my viewers to see in my photographs is myself, and perhaps themselves as well, and I hope they realize that those two things may not be so different." “I made each photograph represent a manifestation of some specific demon that I needed to purge from myself before its corruption became unbearable. It’s the pain that drove me. It was the pain that inspired me. Ultimately, my photography became a form of therapy.” Hopkins main focus was capturing his depression through his self portraits. “Behind each photo was a demon in one form or another that would possess me until I could cage it in a photo.” He wanted people to connect with him and his photography and see themselves through the pictures he captures hoping it can somehow become their therapy as well.
4. Influences: (5 sentences. How has the photographer influenced you in your work?)
Hopkins influenced my work by seeing myself in his photographs. I used to be depressed in the past and every now and then fall in and out of it. Seeing his photographs influenced me to showing people how I went through depression and how I was feeling throughout it. I want them to relate to me as I did with him. Some things will be similar but others will be different because depression is not a “carbon copy” thing.
5. Sources: You need to include the 3 images, their title and their source (which may include a link)
https://www.facebook.com/pg/captaintruffles/photos/
Dates of Artists Life: December 17, 1992
Source: Emailed Photographer ([email protected])
1. Personal Background: (5 sentences. Culture, nationality, schooling, important life events, etc.)
Christian Hopkins is a 25 year old photographer and lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. From the age of 16, Hopkins struggled with severe clinical depression. He found himself using photography as a form of therapy. He was enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania studying biochemistry. Hopkins started on flicker and admired others self portraits but couldn’t see any that expressed what he was feeling; this was the spark that wanted him to make those photographs himself. There were two important events that lead him to his photography. The trip he took to China with his family was one of them. His parents got him his first camera for the trip which was a small point-and-shoot. He had no intention on using it but it was fancy enough at the time that he felt guilty for not using it at all. He ended up bringing it along with him but had not intention on taking pictures of everything he saw. He took pictures of small unimportant things and found beautiful in their own way. While taking these pictures he found moments that he didn’t think existed until he started looking for them. “Instead of distracting me from the world, the camera made the world around me so much more vivid and full of character”. The second life event that sparked his photography was when he was diagnosed with major depression. After trying to commit suicide he was placed in the hospital for three months missing the first half of his senior year. For the second half, a requirements for the senior students was to engage in an independent project. His project was taking pictures in his bedroom because he was uncomfortable speaking or being around others. When Hopkins was in the hospital he found many photographers that used self portraits for emotional expression. Tormented with self-destructive thoughts, he felt beyond control. He reached out for something to regain that control: photography. “It was liberating, even if just for a moment, to be able to take a thought out of my head and trap it in a photograph, and if I could look at one of my photographs and instantly know the thought or feeling it represented, then it would mean that I understood that emotion that was plaguing me, and with that understanding came the control I was so desperate to recover.”
2. Style: (5 sentences. What visual characteristics does this artist’s work possess? If you can compare it to a painting or art history please do.)
Hopkins photographs express his depression he constantly goes through. He used his thoughts that constantly infest him to create the photographs you see today. His photographs are surreal self portraits along with photo manipulation to create the strong emotions that he struggles with everyday. An array of his pictures perfectly captures the abominable thoughts and feelings trapped inside his mind. Hopkins depression fuels the creativity in his photographs and creates life within them. He was influenced by a photographer named Aaron Nace. Nace opened Hopkins eyes to how you can go beyond the limits of what’s just in front of the lense and what you can manipulate with imagination and reality.
3. Philosophy: (5 sentences. What were the major ideas behind this artist’s work? Where their personal, political, social, etc. What were they trying to “say” with their photographs?)
Hopkins wants the viewer to see themselves in his photography: "What I want my viewers to see in my photographs is myself, and perhaps themselves as well, and I hope they realize that those two things may not be so different." “I made each photograph represent a manifestation of some specific demon that I needed to purge from myself before its corruption became unbearable. It’s the pain that drove me. It was the pain that inspired me. Ultimately, my photography became a form of therapy.” Hopkins main focus was capturing his depression through his self portraits. “Behind each photo was a demon in one form or another that would possess me until I could cage it in a photo.” He wanted people to connect with him and his photography and see themselves through the pictures he captures hoping it can somehow become their therapy as well.
4. Influences: (5 sentences. How has the photographer influenced you in your work?)
Hopkins influenced my work by seeing myself in his photographs. I used to be depressed in the past and every now and then fall in and out of it. Seeing his photographs influenced me to showing people how I went through depression and how I was feeling throughout it. I want them to relate to me as I did with him. Some things will be similar but others will be different because depression is not a “carbon copy” thing.
5. Sources: You need to include the 3 images, their title and their source (which may include a link)
https://www.facebook.com/pg/captaintruffles/photos/