The Unseen Struggle

Artwork by Sara Naylor – Exhibit runs from Aug 12 to Sep 22, 2023.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

My work focuses on portraying the physical and emotional aspects of dealing with mental illness and the importance of mental health. I strive to explore the relationship between the concept of mental illness and how to show it in a more tangible and relatable form. I also address the change that occurs within a person due to a mental illness, whether that change is instantly noticeable or something that occurs silently over time.

I have chosen the imagery of insects to be my primary link between the concept of mental illness and its representation because of their fascinating yet repellent nature. Similarly, insects surround us constantly but are intentionally avoided and left unaddressed when possible. I incorporate stylized insects interacting with my hands to represent how mental illness manifests itself in my life. While mental illness is something that is common, it is not spoken about as openly as it should be. I depict my hands in my work as a form of self-portraiture because my work directly reflects my own experiences, emotions, and thoughts.

Through my work, I aim to bring awareness to the struggles that many people face in silence and change the stigma surrounding mental illness from a taboo subject to something that is acknowledged and addressed more widely.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: 

Sara Naylor is a Utah based artist who studied Printmaking and earned her BFA at Utah State University. Growing up, she had always been interested in art and made the decision to pursue her passion for creativity and attend college, where she fell in love with printmaking and joined the printmaking program. She is currently working on further developing her talents in art post college and creates any moment that she gets the chance, aiming to work as an artist full time.

Through various printmaking techniques, Sara focuses on creating art that illustrates emotions that are difficult for her to express verbally. She believes that art is a visual form of communication that can express more than what can be expressed with words. Visual art can communicate better than she feels she can verbally and allows for her to speak to a wider audience without the use of words.

To Sara, the action of creating art is an art within itself. This belief has contributed to her fixation on printmaking techniques due to it being a process heavy medium. This allows her the time and space to think about what she is creating and the reasoning behind it. Printmaking becomes a form of meditation for her that creates a channel through which creativity can flow.

This exhibit is held in conjunction with artist Thomas Szalay.