What started off as what I assumed would be a simple, informative exhibition turned into something much more personal, a mirror of everything we subconsciously deal with in our daily lives. The deeper we went into discussions about mental health, social media, and perception, the clearer it became that so much of who we think we are comes from the way we interpret ourselves through tiny moments we rarely question. It made me notice how quickly we adjust ourselves, how differently we interpret the same situations, how we view ourselves and others, and how five minutes online can shift our thoughts without warning. It made me realize how easily our perception becomes distorted, shaped more by what we consume on a daily basis than by real experiences, reshaping our mental health and the way we understand the real world, often without us noticing.
It happened on a day that wasn’t supposed to mean anything. I was sitting with a few friends after school, and for a moment everything felt normal; we were talking, joking and letting the day unwind. Then someone made a small comment, something harmless to everyone else, but it hit me differently. They laughed but I didn’t. My mind split in two directions: one part trying to stay logical, telling me it wasn’t a big deal, and the other part reacting emotionally, convincing me it meant something more. I could feel myself shifting between heart and mind, trying to figure out which version of the moment was real.
That moment stayed with me longer than I expected. It made me wonder how often we move through the world caught between what we feel and what we try to reason through, trying to make sense of experiences that don’t come with clear answers.
When the idea of creating artworks for the The Minds’ Introspective exhibition was introduced, I felt drawn to the idea of exploring perception, to show how both emotion and reasoning shape the way we understand the world. That’s why I chose to create The Whole Picture: Heart and Mind; an illusionary artwork that shifts depending on where you stand: showing a heart from one side and a brain from the other.
This piece symbolizes how mental well-being is formed through both what we feel and how we process those feelings, and that perception changes depending on the lens we use. Only by viewing both perspectives, the intuitive and the analytical, we are able to have a full picture. With this artwork, I wanted to express how often we rely on just one of these sides to interpret solutions or solve problems or view the world, when in reality, clarity only comes when both the affective and the cognitive parts of us balance each other.
But perception isn’t only shaped by what happens within us; it’s also shaped by the environments we immerse ourselves in. That idea is what guided my next artwork, The Digital Divide.
Before I could process what I was feeling, the conversation slowly fell apart, and almost like instinct, one by one we all sank into our phones. The room went quiet. The glow from our screens replaced the eye contact we’d had moments before. I watched us sink deeper into that silence, scrolling, tapping, disappearing. I remember looking around and realizing how disconnected we’d become, not just from each other, but from ourselves. We were all physically together, side by side, yet mentally gone, each of us scrolling in our own separate worlds.
It has come to my attention that this wasn’t just a one-time moment. I have seen it happen with my family, in school, even at home. Little by little, it wasn’t only our connection that changed, but where our focus lived.
My second artwork, The Digital Divide, came to life from the idea that social media doesn’t just distract us, it pulls us away from the world in front of us. This creation is a sculptural display that plays with light and positioning to reveal two different realities.
At first glance, you see two figures facing each other, their bodies covered in social media logos, a reference to the digital distractions we carry everywhere. But when lights shine on the piece from opposite sides, the panels behind them reveal another image: the same two figures facing away from each other, each in their phones.
This contrast becomes a representation of how we “hang out” without truly being present. We sit together but drift into our screens, slipping into separate worlds without even realizing it. Through this piece, I wanted to capture how social media slowly reduces our real-life connection, weakening the way we engage, notice, and understand the people around us.
At first, I believed the two moments I described, the emotional confusion and the silence created by our screens, had nothing in common. But through the process of creating both artworks, I realized they were two sides of the same experience. The Whole Picture: Heart and Mind helped me understand how my inner world can distort what I see, while The Digital Divide revealed how social media disconnected us from what is real around us. Together, they showed me that perception is never just internal or external, it’s a mix of both, and that’s what this exhibition pushed me to confront: how easily we can lose clarity if we rely on only one lens. In the end, what began as two separate concepts came together as one message; understanding ourselves and the world requires stepping back, looking closely, and seeing the full picture; the balanced perspective that comes from both perspectives, instead of the limited version we get from just one angle.
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