Screaming on the Inside: The Lived Experience of Depression and Despair
Depression is an insidious condition that is often invisible from the outside. It stalks us when we sleep, when we wake, when we work and live. It’s a voice inside that tells us that we fuck everything up, that no one wants to see us and we’re a burden. That we need to make ourselves smaller and smaller, until we do everyone a favor and just disappear.
That voice is lying.
1 in 4 Canadians will hear that voice someday, shouting in their ear when they are at their most vulnerable. The voice will be so loud that they will not be able to drown it out themselves, but rather will need help from specialists.
Every year over half a million Canadians experience depressive episodes. A quarter million of those folks are under the age of 18. And women in Canada are twice as likely to experience depression as men.
How does it feel to hear the voice of depression in your ear? This series answers that question using black and white fine art portraiture. These fine art portraits provide a visual representation of how it feels to struggle through a depressive episode. You may be working, going to school, raising children, adulting in your day to day life. And to the person you walk past on the street, you like fine. But on the inside you’re screaming. Sobbing. Begging it all to stop. Trying to climb up out of the pit of despair and find higher ground.
These portraits are dedicated to all those who are still in the pit, and those trying to climb out. We see you. We love you. And we are rooting for you.
