Dear All,
Whilst I appreciate that for many this may hit a raw nerve but having suffered Post Natal Depression after having my first child I wanted to undertake a project to raise awareness of Post Natal Depression and how it can affect a person and their family and friends. The aim of the project is that sharing would help those that suffer in silence to understand that they are not alone or to help people to understand their own condition better.
My son will be coming up to his first birthday and I still have good days and bad days but having been through group therapy and realising how much it helped me to share and listen I had to take on this project.
Before having my child I was studying for a BA in Documentary Photography and now having recently returned I very much want to progress this idea in a legitimate academic study of the condition.
What I am working on is a series of Portraits on those that have suffered and those that have been directly affected by the condition whom re-tell their story through their own handwriting. The images will be very natural because with any type of depression it is a hidden illness and I want to re-tell individuals thoughts and feelings to make the hidden become visible. There is still a lot of stigma surrounding depression but anyone can be affected and it is this that people do not understand and think what they see is what they get.
I see this project as long term because the more awareness we can raise about depression the better we are to deal with its affects.
Please email me and thank you for reading.
Nicola.Masters@students.newport.ac.uk
