Sunday Spotlight: Amy Fleming
Project Title: When Did I Stop Being Invincible?
Artist Statement:
While exploring themes of truth, reality, and the need for human connection, I often turn to my camera as a way to cope. Reflecting on past trauma and attempting to navigate my life with mental illness, I am capturing small moments of time passing through video, documenting myself and my mundane surroundings in photographic form. Living with panic disorder, I am often questioning my day to day reality with questions like: “Did that actually happen, or did I dream that?”, “Am I a real person?”, “Am I having a panic attack, or is this how I’m supposed to feel?” Through manipulation, I am showing the viewer how I experience my daily reality.
When Did I Stop Being Invincible? is an exploration of living life with a newfound anxiety disorder. I am often comparing my past reality with my current reality to try and make sense of the way that I feel in the moment and how I’ve felt in the past. In moments of panic and anxiety, I write down words or phrases that mean something to me, but seem comical and confusing when I read them later. Drawing inspiration from those phrases, I create imagery to try and make sense of what my mind was trying to tell me in that anxiety induced moment.
Bio:
Amy Fleming, b. 1994, is an artist who is exploring themes of belief, evidence, reality, and the need for human connection. Photography as her main choice of medium, she often turns to her camera as a way to cope. By capturing small moments of time passing through video, and documenting herself and her mundane life in photographic form, Fleming is attempting to navigate her life with mental illness. Living with panic disorder, she is often questioning her day to day reality with questions like: “Did that actually happen, or did I dream that?” “Am I a real person?” “Am I having a panic attack, or is this how I’m supposed to feel?” By manipulating her photographs and videos, in camera or in post production, she is showing the viewer how she experiences her daily reality. Reflecting on past trauma, she is providing evidence to make the viewers believe that these traumas and feelings are actually part of her reality.
You can find more of Amy Fleming’s work here.
