meliskocer

 Art and emotions have been very much interconnected throughout history. Humans have used artistic expression to convey ideas and communicate through stories. Therefore, one can claim that art can have a healing effect when it comes to emotionally challenging situations and for that, art therapy emerged in the mid-20th century in Europe.  The term "art therapy" was attributed to British artist Adrian Hill in 1942. Art therapy was also being practiced in the United States around the same time by Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer. Naumburg linked art to the unconscious expression of emotions and Kramer created a ground for art therapy as a legitimate education. As the practice of art therapy became more widespread, it has also gained ground as a solid psychotherapy practice. Again, in the mid 20th century, Gestalt therapists also gained interest in art therapy. For them, art is an excellent tool to articulate fears and anxieties and also a way to fulfill the intrinsic human de

Louis Wain is an English illustrator who is highly interested in anthropomorphic cats. In the beginning, he was illustrating to make her wife laugh. Unfortunately, he lost his wife to cancer at a very early age and in time he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. This mental illness has deeply altered his personality, thus his artistic style as well. He started painting psychedelic cats which were much more expressive than the earlier ones. Edward Honaker a 21-year-old photographer who is suffering from chronic depression and anxiety said "Your mind is who you are when it does not work properly, it is scary." This sentence can be very much interconnected with Wain's shifting style. As one experiences a traumatic incident, his or her perspective on life can also change dramatically.  Mental illness is not something tangible. You can not see if the person in front of you is in pain or suffering, yet again Honaker states, "Just because it cannot be seen, does not mean damag

As I look at my works cumulatively, I come to the conclusion that my main concern is to represent varying mental illnesses such as anxiety, claustrophobia, or bipolar disorder. I am really into psychology and expression, and the synthesis of the two since I am also suffering from severe anxiety for a very long time. Therefore, it is quite a personal issue as well.  Mental illnesses have been represented many times throughout art history. For instance, Northern Renaissance artists often depicted mental illness through the lens of spiritual experience and symbolism. An example of this kind of representation can be Matthias Grunewald's "The Temptation of Saint Anthony". He uses religious allegories, such as demons to convey a certain psychological state.  Matthias Grunewald, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1510-1515 Another significant example can be the Romantic Age. In this era, extreme states of mind were romanticized and a solid example can be Francisco Goya. In one of

 The first video I watched "The true toxicity of social media revealed" discussed how depression (especially teen depression) is deeply correlated with social media usage. In fact, there is a 70% increase in depression in the last 25 years according to the source. Even though social media is claimed to be increasing inclusivity and connectivity, many results indicate the opposite. Social media sites' general algorithm is designed to isolate us from the things we do not like or understand and pushes us to the things we like and are familiar with. Therefore we can never be actually interconnected. In a Tedx by Jacquelyn Quinones, there was an interesting quote by a psychologist: "If there was a legal drug that creates the same effects as social media, it would be banned." And I believe it is true, social media is a mass psychosis. Just like tobacco addiction, by using social media you are deliberately exposing yourself to potential harm. Because of social media, o

For my research, I began with finding connections between social media and empathy. The first related article by Berryman, Ferguson, and Negy (2017) argues that the overconsumption of social media does not necessarily affect one's empathic abilities, which was contrasting with my argument. However, as I continue reading it, the key aspect was how one uses social media. For instance, a person can spend over 5 hours a day on social media but the mere exposure time does not imply that it has a negative impact. Quality rather than quantity is superior in this case. Then I found another article about Facebook and its photo feature. This innocent-looking feature might actually be linked to narcissistic behavior since it creates pressure among individuals -especially among females- to create an alluring self-promoting profile with the urge to seek attention from other users (Alloway et al. 2014). Furthermore, a scholar named Konrath did research on students from the time 1979 to 2009, wh

In today's world, the notion of empathy is very much lost and I believe the main reason for that is the overconsumption of social media applications since spending so much time on these platforms is lacking our skills to really interact and understand each other. We are so used to looking at our phones when we are bored (even if we are with somebody) that we get less chance to practice empathy. The second the conversation becomes awkward or dull, we immediately grab our phones to check what other people are doing on Instagram as if it is the most significant thing of that moment. It is not, or at least it should not be.  This issue has become my main focus nowadays. I want to investigate this loss of empathy from different aspects. What are the algorithms and design decisions that make these platforms so addictive? Which strategies are these people or companies using to have such a chilling impact on human activity and psychology? Are they intentionally making these decisions just