Wired

Artist Statement

The sculpture captures the struggle of a deep raw emotional state that I dealt with for a time in the past. That was before I got help and support and was able to find my peace and recover. It captures the feelings of being trapped inside ones head. To feel as though you are screaming for help, trying to communicate, but on the surface no one seems to notice. It captures how one can feel something so deeply yet to everyone else it can appear that they feel nothing at all.

I’m a woman on the spectrum and it is very common for women on the spectrum to experience anxiety and depression. Being on the spectrum it is harder for me to communicate sometimes, especially when communicating and expressing my emotions. In recent years I have become much better at communicating and also at masking the fact that I am on the spectrum, but it is something that I really struggled with in the past. I often felt silenced and unheard in a typically ableist world. On top of that I also struggled with depression and anxiety in the past and was afraid to tell people that I was hurting and needed help, especially my loved ones, for fear of burdening them. I felt unable to tell people but at the same time I wanted to, and so tried to communicate this in small ways that mostly went unnoticed. The statue captures the feelings of that time in my life and the wires come from the phrase “differently wired” that refers to neurodiversity and how I am wired differently.

Beyond what it stands for on a personal level, I hope that it can stand as a beacon to those who struggle with being different and often struggle with depression and anxiety as a result of the world’s reaction to those differences, or to those who battle with mental health.