Disassociation
Disassociation is characterized by a disconnection and lack of continuity between thoughts, memories, surroundings, actions and identity and often occurs as a result of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The digital painting I have made depicts a corporate woman who is neatly dressed but has deeply suppressed her feminine qualities in order to be more masculine because she believes that is what is expected of her to thrive and grow in her field of work. She’s robotic in her day to day life which involves a fixed routine of biting off more than she can chew to keep up with all the roles that is expected of her. To be a mother, a daughter, a friend and an overworked corporate woman in a company that doesn’t believe that mental health exists and now she doesn’t either. The only way her brain can cope is to disassociate from her body, almost like she isn’t really a person after all. Her head is in the clouds and there’s a glassy ‘spaced out’ look in her eyes, she’s reached her breaking point where her world has stretched her far too much. I believe every human being, irrespective of what they identify as, have both feminine and masculine attributes, and I believe that our world today discourages the feminine, which consists of – a high emotional intelligence, gentleness, empathy, humility, and sensitivity and I do strongly believe that if our world embraced their feminine and masculine both , our world would be a far better place for all beings alike. We have far more in common than we do differences and it’s time we awoken to acknowledge this.