ANXIETY
OF CORVUS
Corvus, symbolized as a crow, is one of my alter-egos who embodies my biggest flaw in life, social anxiety. This series of drawings and installations chronicles my complex relationship with Corvus since childhood throughout adulthood. This narrative timeline is divided into two parts.
The first part is a prelude told by a set of drawings titled Memoirs of an Introverts. This is the early stage where I first met Corvus at birth. He became my friend during childhood and was always consulting me when signs of social anxiety began to surface. In the end, I realized I have a problem and transformed into Corvus myself.
The second one, a series of installations, is the main part showing how my social anxiety worsens from adolescence to adulthood and how Corvus has been affecting me in various ways.
Flight is about my escape from social conventions and refusing to face the problem.
Attack refers to my aggressive approach to deal with my condition which resulted in hurting myself and others. This is my apology.
Petrified recalls my vegetative state, in which I surrendered to my inability to function socially.
Anxiety represents my present self when I have finally come to terms with who I am and my problem, coexisting calmly side by side. However, I also want others to feel what I went through and experience the social anxiety in them, even for a second.
I created this series to understand myself by facing my demon and appreciate how it shaped me to the person I am today. It’s also my redemption for everything I’ve done and everyone I’ve wronged induced by my social anxiety. Furthermore, I want others with the same problem to relate to me and, those who don’t, to understand.