In the late fall of 2018 Lexi sent me a series of 9 or 10 selfies she’d done in black and white expressing how her depression made her feel. I thought the images were powerful expressions of her feelings and asked if she wanted to do a more formal shoot. She did, but her parents, rightly, wanted her to start with a therapist first.

In September 2019 there was a gallery in Australia that put out a call for photography with the theme of mental illness. This seemed the perfect time to check back with her family and we got the approval. We shot these in about 90 minutes one Sunday afternoon (finding time in schedules is tough!). Unfortunately we didn’t make the cut for the gallery show, but they are still well worth sharing.

What was your inspiration for the series?

I honestly just wanted to show other people that they weren’t alone and I wanted to give them pictures that they could relate to. Like if one of their friends was having a hard time understanding what’s wrong with them they could just show them the pictures and their friend would understand what it’s like.

 

You did beautiful work with original self-series you did a year ago. Do you feel like the series this year was able to capture your feelings in the same way? Did it do it differently? Or do they not quite catch the same depth of feeling?

I do. I was able to actually visualize what I wanted when we redid them. I feel like they catch the same depth of feeling they’re in different ways.

Does the fact that you’ve had the chance to experience nine or 10 months of therapy affect how you view either set?

Not really. It’s still just as real as when I did the first set.

Does one piece in the new set stand out more than any others and if so why?

The hands one. When I did the first set I wasn’t able to fully form an idea of what anxiety was so I wasn’t able to create a scenario that pictured it but in the new shoot I was.

Is there a photo we did not do that you would like to have done or is there one you thought of sense that you would like to add to the series?

Yes I’m always thinking of new photos LOL.