ARTIST STATEMENT
If you look in my eyes, you cannot see me. I’m not there.
“You Don’t Look Crazy” uses my experiences with bipolar disorder to discuss greater issues surrounding mental illness. I am a different person when I am depressed, manic, or anxious.
Mental illness “explains” everything from mass murder to celebrity deaths to everyday cruelty, but little else. Bipolar disorder isn’t the news of the day. It is how people like me live.
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 30 years ago. The first 20 years were the most difficult, the hardest being “ultrarapid cycling.” Hysterical crying could be broken only by an antipsychotic, which would induce turbulent rest. This would happen once an hour for the entire day. I could sleep at night only with heavier medication. The mania seemed like putting salt in my coffee, agitated by the caffeine and then wincing from the salt. I could hope to feel something only when I was depressed.
How can I portray insanity?
I select yarn colors echoing a mood. Weaving by free associating, I introduce contrasting colors, patterns, and textures. As I sit at the loom, it is as if I face a blank canvas with no model before me. I am not drawing a figure, I’m capturing a feeling.
Considering the emotion projected by the fabric, I pair it with hand-drawn images. Drawing empties out my brain.
The combination of the illustrations and the fabric are my language for unlocking the chemical imbalance box. Initially light-hearted and comical, my satiric memoirs lead to serious discussion.
You will see me when you see my work.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Upending traditional weaving and sewing, Juliet Martin creates sculptural pieces infused with themes of love and loss. Her style is a little funny, a little scary, and more than a little uncomfortable. Each canvas of sewn-together hand-woven and machine-made fabric is then decorated with illustrations and paint. Martin’s love of fiber as both a technique and a symbolic presence comes through in these emotional, often humorous pieces. Inspired by Francis Clemente’s well-composed yet vulnerable work, Martin brought painting into her pieces. Her fiber memoirs combine illustration, storytelling, and weaving.
Juliet Martin has a BA in Visual Art from Brown University and a MFA in Computer Art from School of Visual Arts. Her work has been written about in The New York Times and was named one of the “Women Artists to Watch” by Artsy. She lives and works in Brooklyn.
© Juliet Martin