RAW MIND, VULNERABLE SOUL: JOURNEY THROUGH A TEEN MIND
This project is supported by SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara.
Introduction, by Kira Learmonth
One in five teens struggle with mental illness. This statistic puts the reality of teen mental illness in perspective. Those with mental illness heal in different ways. Sometimes they go through struggles, get over it, and then move on. Other times, they have to go through multiple struggles before moving on. In this exhibition, we expose the mind to be raw to our viewers and release the soul to be vulnerable. Because of stigma, we tend to be blind to the reality, complexity, and depth of mental illness. The purpose of our exhibit is to open up and help make the reality of mental illness and healing understandable.
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An Exhibition by Four Teen Curators The Triton Museum of Art was awarded an Audience Engagement grant by SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara, to collaborate with local teens on an exhibition curated by teens, to give us a better view of the teenage lens. The primary goal was to expand the mission of the Triton Museum of Art to offer youth a platform for expression, community inclusion and participation. Through the exhibition and online “zine” we have created a welcoming space that fosters self-expression in a new way. “This program enforces the importance of storytelling and working with different groups of people to reach audiences we have yet to reach,” clarifies Jennifer Dao, who spearheaded the program. The teenage demographic is often underserved and underrepresented at the Museum, and the Triton Museum wanted to offer more — more access, more depth, more involvement and more experiences. Showing the inner workings of a museum and how it works, with all of the different moving parts and pieces, has never been done before.” ~2~
In this exhibit, four teens embrace the difficult subject matter of mental illness which affects so many of their peers, giving a voice to those who oftentimes suffer in silence. The four teen curators selected works from the Triton Museum of Art’s Permanent Collection to visually demonstrate the non-linear cycles of mental illness. Through this exhibition, viewers get a rare and precious glimpse into the complexities of today’s teenage mind. As a community we need to not only listen, but to take to take action. The Triton Museum of Art would like to thank SVCreates for making this all possible. We extend those thanks to the Santa Clara City Library and our four teenage curators, Elsie Awuah, Hannah Cheng, Jay Ghate, and Kira Learmonth. This impressive and insightful exhibition is a culmination of their efforts.
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TM.2015.037 | Jane Olin | Greta 2 | 2003 | Toned silver gelatin print | 14” x 11”
She Was Alone, by Hannah Cheng
In the beginning there was one. She was alone, the voice silenced, her sight unclear. The portrayed image displays an isolated woman, hand on top of her mouth. Jane Olin’s Greta 2 is filled with dark imagery and meaningful thoughts. The mysterious woman represents the beginning of a journey — of many journeys — battling the war that is mental illness. She is imprisoned in her own mind and has no way out. Greta 2 is the starting point of the show; beginning with a visual representation of the struggles many must suffer through. As the imagery transitions from dark to light, the order loops around, bringing the viewer back to Olin, representing how even when one has healed, this experience will continue to follow them for the rest of their lives, and never leaves.
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TM.1993.001 | Warren Lee | Day Dreams | 1993 | Mezzotint | 15” x 10.5” TM.2019.021 | Kristin Lindseth | Solar Flare | 1985 | Intaglio | print |13” x 9.5”
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TM.2017.310 | Deborah Kennedy | Sanctuary | 1995 | Print | 11 ⅞” x 15 ¾”
TM.1984.002.001 | Nino Glaser | Untitled | 1982 | Photograph | 11” x 14”
Two Boys by Hannah Cheng Two boys stand alongside each other, together yet isolated. Their faces shadowed, distorting their vision and sanity. Every day we lose beautiful minds because they are misunderstood and neglected. They stand alongside us, but are undetected. “I can see, I understand,” they say, but truly, everything they believe is true is false, and blurred. “The path to forgiveness cannot be so hidden,” they come to believe. And so they find solace in one another and together, walking step by step to find themselves. Nina Glaser’s photograph is disturbingly dark, yet has a calm insanity. This piece is a continuation of the disturbed eternal struggle many experience with mental illness.
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TM.2017.047 | Joe Saxe | Untitled | Late 1990s | Print | 11.25” x 10 ⅜”
Isolation vs. Community by Elsie Awuah
There is a tendency to plagiarize happiness and the idea of sanity when facing mental illness in a community. Oftentimes as one goes through the process of healing, one tends to isolate themselves. Joe Saxe’s Untitled, embodies how a teen might isolate themselves even if they are making the progression to better their lives. Including Charles Eckart’s pieces next to Saxe’s demonstrates the importance of meaningful connections. Eckart’s pieces embody the effects of a non-toxic and open environment. Isolation is the end of the pain and the start of healing; it is the first step toward the bridge that leads to healing.
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“Oftentimes as one goes through the process of healing, one tends to isolate themselves.”
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by Elsie Awuah
Joe Saxe’s Untitled piece is the epitome of teenage isolation. Being alone in one’s own bedroom contemplating what their next step is a common theme within the healing process especially with the youth of today. Teens tend to dissociate when they realize that the previous way they were living life is no longer serving them. This represents one of the elements of the process of healing; hence, that is why it’s one of the color pieces. To them, at the moment it might feel as if they are going backwards, but in reality depicts and illustrates non-linear progression which the process of healing lies. Barbara DeGenevieve’s Mnemonic Anxiety is a prime example of teen angst. It truly shows how chaotic, unconventional, and unreasonable a teen’s inner mind can be. Especially during a time of weakness and depression. The emotion of this piece really brings life and sporadic emotions that some teens might feel during their lowest time. It changes the narrative in this collection that dark times aren’t solely focused around sadness and depression, but rather anxiety, anger, random spurts of emotions, indifference, etc. ~ 12 ~
TM.2017.270 | Barbara DeGenevieve | Mnemonic Anxiety | 1987 | Gelatin silver print | 17” x 14”
Untitled and Mnemonic Anxiety
In That Man’s Head
“The message is to
show the growing pressure young people have to deal with...”
TM.2014.107 | Charles Eckart | Untitled | 1988 | Etching | 17 ¼” x 14”
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by Jay Ghate
Brian Taylor’s Today seems to relate to Charles Eckart’s Untitled, as that work symbolizes what must be going on in that man’s head: fear, anxiety, and stress. The two art works even use the same color scheme meaning that they could have the same implications. His face is distorted and the background looks like a malfunctioning TV. Either nothing makes sense for him or there is too much information he is trying to process. The message is to show the growing pressure young people have to deal with and their inability to cope with the hardships. Maybe and hopefully, this will make people rethink what they are doing to future generations and change for the better.
TM.2014.115 | Charles Eckart | Untitled (head,torso) | 1984 | Etching | 18 5⁄8” x 13”
TM.2013.014 | Richard Cannon | Callastique, Les Seours (The Sisters) | 2013 | 12” x 8”
Flowers of Fragile Foundation by Kira Learmonth As simple as flowers may seem, they are actually quite complex. Flowers are constantly exerting energy and processing things and growing. One of their most complex aspects is photosynthesis. The equation for photosynthesis is 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2, which is clearly complex and possibly even confusing. It is the same with mental illness. Mental illness is complex and often confusing. Calla lilies are just as complicated as all flowers and have many connotations. One connotation is death, as calla lilies are common in funeral settings. Applying the concept of the death to the show, the death connotations of calla lilies represent the death of the pain as a person starts to heal from mental illness like a funeral for the pain of the past. Another connotation is the artist’s ideas of what the calla lilies represent. To Richard Cannon, the photographer of Callistique, Les Seours, the petals of calla lilies are like columns of buildings. Columns are part of the foundation of building structures, and like buildings and calla lilies, healing has a beautiful and seemingly fragile foundation. Calla lilies look like healing, smell like healing, and feel like healing.
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“The ocean represents the uncertainty and the difficulty of making your place in society”
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TM.2017.168 | Brian Taylor | Today | 1991 | Digital photograph | 23” x 18 3/4”
The Uncertain Ocean by Jay Ghate In Brian Taylor’s 1991 work, Today, we see a young man holding a briefcase and looking at a bustling city on the horizon separated by the ocean. The most dominant color in this photograph is gray and black suggesting a melancholic tone. The distance between the man and the city is big and the journey looks difficult. The ocean represents the uncertainty and the difficulty of making your place in society which is represented by the city. And you will notice his free hand is on his neck implying that he is experiencing feelings of stress, anxiety, and uncertainty. The work relates to our theme in a different way as it shows the difficulties of being useful to society, a pressure that everyone faces, and how uncertainty frightens us.
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TM.2017.068 | Yao-pi Hsu | Untitled | Photography | 11” x 14.25”
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A Bridge into Recovery by Kira Learmonth
As one starts to heal, one crosses a bridge into recovery. Bridge Reflection by Yao-pi Hsu represents the metaphorical bridge of self-reflection, change, and a beginning of recovery. Recovery is an evolution of the soul. As we heal from our struggles, our soul grows and evolves. However, healing is not linear and often we need to give ourselves the capacity to allow our soul to evolve time and time again.
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TM.2009.011 | Aki Mori | Plum Lane | 2009
TM.2001.010 | Kenneth Auvil | Road IV | 1980 | Serigraph | 20 3⁄4” x 15 1⁄4”
TM.2009.010 | Aki Mori | Plum Tree Corner | 2008
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TM.2014.128 | Tracy Valleau | Windmill | 2014 | 17” x 25”
TM.2017.296 | J
Jan Bernstein | It’s All About Sex, Drugs, Money, and Art | 1991 | Etching | 11 5⁄8” x 9 1⁄2”
TM.2014.110 | Charles Eckart | Untitled | 1982 | Etching ink on paper | 12.5” x 14 7⁄8”
Injuries to Our Souls by Hannah Cheng
Isolation. Neuroticism. Error. Describing the complexity of our minds, artists such as Jane Olin, Nina Glaser, Charles Eckart and many others show work that describes the troubling injuries our souls must endure. With a wide range of approaches including photography, etching, and prints, these artists visually communicate the mental imprisonment that comes with illness: hands as a symbol of oppression, a multitude or absence of eyes to represent a distorted viewpoint, and usage of dark and sepia tones to portray the single mindedness and isolation of an individual.
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TM.2014.114 | Charles Eckart | Untitled (head and torso) | 1981 | Etching ink on paper | 22” x 21 7⁄8”
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TM.2014.111 | Charles Eckart | State I | 1980 | Etching ink on paper | 16.5” x 19”
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Triton Museum