Abdeali Saherwala | Staff Writer
Featured image: Visual Arts student Laura Sbrizzi explores the anxieties produced by human interactions through print and painting. | Basma Elbahnasawy
Fifth-year Visual Arts student Laura Sbrizzi’s collection of paintings and prints explores the anxieties produced by human interactions. HABITUAL RUMINATION will be available for free public viewing from November 6 to 16 in The Gales Gallery, located in Accolade West.
HABITUAL RUMINATION is a must-see exhibition, presenting artworks and prints portraying mental health issues, particularly the social anxiety that results from human interaction. The artist’s own emotions and mental health challenges inspired the exhibition.
“My solo exhibition, HABITUAL RUMINATION, presents a body of work that explores my experiences with anxiety and mental health issues over the past year. It focuses on the craving for connection that all human beings have, and the difficulties in communication that often arise in relationships,” says Sbrizzi.
This challenge with human communication is clearly embedded in the presentation of several small booklets in the gallery, all of which were hand-crafted and are strung from the ceiling. The booklets contain a range of topics, from feminism and communication skills to intimacy and love. Through this perspective, visitors feel the tensions and anxieties of human interaction.
“This show is a visual representation of ‘rumination,’ which is the tendency to dwell mentally on a subject. Over-thinking often leads me to separate my physical body from my mental state, leading to panic attacks and uneasiness. Creating the artwork has helped me bond my body with my mind once again. I have presented viewers with materials, objects, and interactive elements so that they may also engage their physical bodies with their stimulated minds,” Sbrizzi adds.
“I have been creating this body of work for about a year and a half. The concept for the solo show itself was something I mulled over since March 2017. It has gone through many changes throughout that period of time, and the body of work itself has grown throughout the process of making it. It took me three days to fully curate and install this work in the gallery, with the assistance of my parents and close friends.”
The quietness of the gallery allows visitors to fully concentrate their attention on the paintings and prints. Sbrizzi intricately crafted these paintings and installations to respectfully and intimately convey the experience of living with both anxiety and depression.
“I use mixed media paintings, printmaking, and installation art to express my concepts in this show. Painting, to me, has been all about using materials to layer meaning. I often hide behind these layers. Printmaking, on the other hand, does not allow me to hide. It is a medium that forces you to let go of control, which has healed me immensely in my struggles with control and anxiousness.
“My recent work with installation art has been an attempt at engaging myself and viewers with something tactile—I want to explore senses other than vision to communicate my feelings. There are some things that can only be evoked through physical touch, in my opinion. That is why I have used so many soft and delicate materials—I hope to create intimate experiences through these works,” Sbrizzi explains.
Sbrizzi’s exhibition allows visitors to slow down in this hyperactive world and pay attention to their mental and physical health. While her paintings are allegories of a painful reality, they also provide viewers with a sense of hope that every day can—and will—get better.
