Danielle Lyons

I come from a family where mental illness is more than common. Mental illness runs wild and free in my family and I am no exceptions. As a means to cope, my therapist suggested the usage of self-portraits and journaling. This allowed me to explore this I didn’t understand about my family’s mental illness as well as my own. Self-portraits quickly evolved into fashion photography. Journaling quickly turned into mixed media art. I generally have kept the two very separate. In photography I take great comfort in the generally meticulous procedures that go along with photography. While, the mixed media arts allows delve out of my comfort zone to be aggressive and loose with my practice. Through the usage of alternative photography processes, I combined the two to revamp my initial objective in art; to explore mental illness and the toll it takes on the family structure.