ArtRage 2023 artist profile: Grace
Image: ArtRage 2023 artist Grace with her piece, Self-Apparatus. Photo: QVMAG.
ArtRage 2023 artist Grace is thrilled at the opportunity that her artwork could start important conversations in society.
"I really hope that people walk away reminding themselves that mental health disorders are common, especially in today's society with how the world is," said Grace. "And be nicer to one another, because you never know what someone is going through. Just have in the back of your mind that you should always ask someone if they're okay if they look like they're struggling, just to be nice. Be kind and open-minded."
Grace's work in ArtRage is entitled Self-Apparatus and is a visual response to mental health issues. "I’m hoping to raise awareness of this silent, deadly killer within today’s youth," said Grace.
"Essentially, what the body of work is — it's a face in an internal landscape, which is about our emotions. It's about how mental health disorders can really affect a person on the inside. I've used science apparatus — the glass bottles — and filled them with water in front of the person, the model, and it's distorted their image.
“By placing my subjects — who suffer from different forms of mental health — behind the apparatus, we are able to see an altered reality: as if mental anxiety has a mind of its own and can alter how we believe we are seen by others. The faces being morphed add to this as it is a visual representation of mental illness.
"So, it's a symbol for how mental health can affect a person — and even affect the way you think about yourself in society. You can look outside and think that everyone's judging you, have anxiety, have depression… It's about those barriers of reality — what we think is reality and what we think is really happening."
Image: Grace Summers, Self-Apparatus (2023). Photo: supplied.
Grace said she is thrilled to be a part of ArtRage 2023. "It is such an honour," she said.
"I've always gone to exhibitions, and I've had artists influence my work. So, the thought of someone walking in here and looking at my work, and maybe influencing another future artist, it's amazing. I get so excited to think that I might be influencing someone into becoming an artist or wanting to continue."
She has encouraging words for those aspiring to be part of ArtRage in the future: "Just experiment, be creative,” she said. “Don't put yourself in a box. Just expand your horizon, whether that be throwing paint on a canvas, or putting oil all over yourself and rolling on the floor - it doesn't matter.
"Just experiment and be creative, because that's what you are. You're a creative person."