Chasing The Sun
Kseniia Rusu is a Russian photographer who explores the topic of mental health and the stigma surrounding it. Using the Sun as a symbol for mental illness, Rusu explores different aspects of life with misunderstood and stigmatized disorders. In her work, Kseniia uses different techniques, such as a phone and a camera, capturing the world around her as she sees it. Kseniia is chasing the Sun that represents both mental illness and hope for better days to come.
Chasing The Sun is a series of images created in various states of mind of a person diagnosed with schizophrenia. Each photograph explores aspects of life with this illness, depicting different forms of paranoia and various experiences of psychotic symptoms in everyday life. Images are taken of familiar places and activities to Kseniia; the photos are then edited in color to correlate with the mental state experienced when the picture was captured. Chasing The Sun is a project that shows beauty in the darkness of living with schizophrenia. Mental illness is largely invisible, but in these images the sun can be read as a metaphor for the schizophrenia the photographer experiences. This project is put together in response to gain control of a condition that many do not understand. As a Russian image-maker, Kseniia draws attention toward the crosscultural reality of living with illness.
Chasing The Sun shows psychosis yet hope simultaneously. The sun plays a narrative role in the final part of this series. The shadows become longer, and people are swallowed by the Sun’s glare, giving them rims of lighting making the whole image look ethereal. These images can be perceived as romantic and sometimes surreal; however, Kseniia depicts her work in a tightly controlled manner, playing with light and shadow within the images.
Consequently, in her work photographs of medication serve as dividers between the sequence of the pictures, revealing a life lived dependent on a medication taken on regular basis. The images taken at a mental hospital depicts the daunting, yet vital experience of living with a mental disorder. The contrast of color schemes in the pictures represents a constant change of a mental state, going from sun-like psychotic episode and euphoria to severe apathy, emphasized by darker melancholic images. Grain in these images reflect the lack of clarity that results from the medicated mind. The reflections of the Sun combined with camera lens glares make the viewer see what a naked human eye cannot capture, but the camera can.
Kseniia tells a story of her own struggle with schizophrenia. Despite having her camera taken away due to mental hospital regulations, Kseniia continued to take pictures on her phone camera, knowing for sure that, despite her illness, photography was still a key to recovery and management of her illness. By trying to capture the invisible, Kseniia made a triumphant attempt of self-therapy, serving her mental state. Her work tries to convince an audience that a person diagnosed with schizophrenia remains a person.
Through the beautiful and contrasting images, Chasing The Sun expands the humanity of people diagnosed with mental disorders. This project is an exploration of one’s mind aimed to make at peace with oneself. Chasing The Sun carries on with the critical discussion around mental health disorders and their stigmatization in different countries across the globe.
