Composite Neurology: Lichens and Mental Illness is a body of work that continues the metaphor used in Neuro Foliage by comparing lichens and the way they thrive in the cold, wet, winter landscape to mental illness affecting a person’s brain. Lichens are a complex organism that thrive by latching onto the bark and branches of trees suffering in cold, wet, and dark circumstances. Using epoxy resin, I suspended organic tree materials, specifically lichens and lichen covered tree branches, arranged in a brain-scan form.

After giving birth in early 2020, I used this work to encapsulate the anxiety and depression brought on by postpartum depression, as well as the isolating pandemic. This imagery parallels the way depression and anxiety can grow and manifest, taking over the brain. The rectangular block of resin and shapes within are expressions of brain MRI’s where the actual weight of the resin juxtaposes the weight felt during depressive episodes. Lichens, a complex and composite organism typically comprised of fungi and algae, can overwhelm other organisms as they spread uncontrollably. Much like the way lichens take over the branches of a tree, postpartum depression also quickly and easily overtakes the mind of a new mother. It is a difficult topic for many to speak about, and one can feel consumed and overwhelmed by this complex, composite intruder in their mind. My hope is to give a voice to what can be an otherwise silent struggle, and to de-stigmatize mental illnesses by building a bridge of communication for those afflicted by it.