Artist Statement

“As a person with ADHD, I often get overwhelmed by sounds, sights, and my own intrusive thoughts. I often abandon tasks as I fail to multitask and am unable to concentrate. Amidst the sensory overload, the knee-tapping, the distractions, and unfinished tasks that are products of ADHD, creating artwork is one of the very few things that keeps me consistently engaged. In this series of works, The Hyperactive Mind, I explore my relationship with ADHD through abstract artworks that visually convey the sensations of the condition. While recognizing that each person that has ADHD has a unique experience, these works address my experiences with sensory overload, hyperfocusing, distraction, anxiety, and overwhelming feelings. I focused on exploring surface and texture by combining media to create complex, dynamic surfaces with shifting focal points in order to embody the distracted mind. The contrast between negative and positive space, chaos and stillness, and the overwhelming versus the quiet, which are all reflective of my experiences, is exhibited throughout this series. This block of work has had an emphasis on process and the collection of materials such as tissue paper, glitter, notes, fabric, and more, to visually embody my experiences and the complexity of my emotions. Using these materials and applying them in a strategic way allows an opportunity for neurotypical viewers to gain insight into the mind of a non-neurotypical person, and to potentially recognize commonalities between us.”