Alejandro Aguilar Canela
Statement
Under current circumstances, to feel is to aim for failure. Either it is too much or too little, naive or corrupted. We got used to falling short in understanding ourselves and inevitably others, in risking betrayal or shutting down as a coping mechanism. We want it all, or we want nothing.
There is, nevertheless, a space of acceptance in between the constant polarization, a gray area where we converge and speak the same language.
Let it come to you, a place not to pretend or endure, a place to meet and grow.
The exhibition and the illustrated poetry book tries to create entryways to that safe space, a lesson to learn about the dark part of our psyche that has the purpose to be, in the end, a positive, hopeful outcome. It is within narrow walls where we learn to appreciate the outside, the mundane, the simple act of being.
A thesis created from a neurodiverse perspective comes to talk about the depression, anxiety and overthinking of the day to day in order to spark a conversation about mental health, without addressing directly the subject but its insides. It is the point of view of the unspoken, the uncomfortable, the constant poking of emotions we actively avoid without knowing the importance of listening to them, those key pieces that create clarity and paths to a deeper self-analysis.
Illustration Practice (MFA) Students
Yuanyuan Zhou - not exhibiting