Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
A visual conversation intended to shed light on the ways humanity moves to stay resilient in times of hardship.
“Yoga was the beginning of tuning into my feelings, flaws, anxieties.
Through yoga, art, exercise, and many other creative outlets I have learned how to find peace within myself.”
— Kaitlin King, 26
In 2015, Kait lost her father to suicide. This necklace is made up of his ashes.
• Little Egg Harbor, NJ •
1/2
“You can fake your body language more than you can lie with your eyes.”
“The topic scares me. Never before have I felt so helpless, frustrated, guilty, than when trying to help pull my loved ones from depression. When you watch your loved ones suffer, it becomes so clear that the darkness is in all of us. It makes you understand how universal of a force mental health is…I think it may be the most under-discussed issue that’s tearing humanity apart.”
— Pat Munnia, 28
“Movement is my medicine.
Sometimes that manifests through anxious tapping and other times blissfully running until my lungs burn. It can be anything and everything from dancing to exercising to meditating and trying to balance on one foot while lifting my toes—anything. I really just like to explore. I think it’s the most primal, natural means we have as humans to express ourselves: before we spoke—we moved. I cannot even begin to meditate or do something artistic until I’ve beat the energy out of myself.”
"Your thoughts are merely clouds passing by in the sky. Observe them, feel them, as they are there. Witness and do not ignore them. The sky will not always look the way it does. I think we have to recognize the flaws and capabilities we have as humans, both positive and negative. We are capable of the most incredible and wonderful things, but we are also capable of feeling scared and defensive, reactive. I think part of the reason that anxiety is such an issue for so many people is because we have a really difficult time, first of all, discussing it, and explaining what it is. It has a very negative connotation. And because of that, people don’t begin to deal with it from the beginning. It begins to add up, it gradually gets worse. Instead of identifying that “I’m feeling a little bit anxious right now and it’s okay that I’m feeling this”, it almost feels better to say “no no, I’m not anxious, I don’t need to tell anyone.” We’re not rewarded for speaking up and because of that we internalize it and it makes it more challenging to deal with.”
“Anxiety, for me, is more like a ghost or a demon. It visits you. It channels through you. It comes back to you. You can push it away or you can conquer it sometimes. But it’s kind of just there. I don’t think it moves linearly. It can visit you whenever. And you need many different tools to help deal with it. I think the most important thing to note here is that it affects everybody. How do we better handle ourselves when we’re beginning to feel anxious? It makes me feel helpless, stagnant, and like I can’t move. For better or worse, my way of overcoming that is by moving. Sometimes it’s not even by the tapping or exercising. Sometimes it’s getting my mind to move. It’s not just about the body. Anxiety makes me feel like I can’t make decisions. Like it’s all slipping away.”
• Los Angeles, CA •
“Trying to change people is one of my biggest flaws. I feel like I need to fix people, things in my life, and if I can’t I freak out. I want to help their flaws so I can deviate from fixing my own.”
— Erika Lanahan, 23
Creator of ErikaFromAmerika
⠀
“It started because I deal with a lot of death in my life and the anxiety it brought me while trying to deal with typical high school issues. It also was brought upon because of my alcoholic parents, something I didn’t realize had such a big effect on me since I was so so young when it started and I thought it was normal. Sometimes I get put on medication but I am not too fond of it. I don’t like the side effects but I guess you have to compensate for either getting them or feeling a bit better. I sweat, cry, shake, hyperventilate, get really angry, won’t get out of bed for days, have suicidal thoughts, binge eat, not talk, and so many other physical things because of my mental health issues. It is exhausting. Working out used to be the lifesaver when my depression and anxiety were super bad in high school, but to the point where I would go for 3 hours every single day and not say a single word or smile. Which is also unhealthy but then again, it’s give or take—being unhealthy at the gym or being sad. I stopped eating a lot, got really skinny and would workout constantly because that was my escape. Other problems arose in college including gaining weight, another cause of my depression, and it simulatiously makes me not want to workout now. I feel forced because that’s the right thing to do, but when my parents drink and become abusive physically and mentally, I turn to the only thing I can control—food. I would like to find another way to cope.”
⠀
Erika’s relationship with anxiety and depression has come and gone over the course of many years. And for some of those years I’ve gotten to know her and the insane passion she has for roaming the earth. • "I love to travel, experience different things, I love having crazy stories to tell from it all. I love being able to connect with a random stranger and communicate through another language.”
• Lumberton, NJ •
“Starting last year, I got really into Amigo the Devil. He has this one song called One Kind of People and I think it’s a really beautiful song. It’s very morbid, though. It’s simple enough to where it’s just banjo and it’s not really song as much as it’s spoken. I remember asking everyone on Instagram if they had a banjo, no bites. Then I was like “Yanno what, I’m gonna give this a few months. If I still want it, I’ll pull the trigger.” It was within those few months I started listening to Caamp again. He came back into my life and I was like “Wow, this is fucking amazing” you know? “This is the kind of noise I love.”
— Jesse Tomasello, 26
Creator of Misfit Visuals
I was never that type of person to just, like, sit down and do something for hours. When I sit down with the banjo I can just play the same chord over and over, and over again. It flows back into how I paint. There comes a point where I’m just going through the motions, doing the patterns and still just running scenarios in my head and thinking about what’s on my mind and working through it all. The only loose goal I have for playing is learning One Kind of People by Amigo the Devil and Caamp’s ’26’. Because of my track record with other things, I know better than to just jump in, ‘cause that’s just asking to get discouraged and quit as soon as it’s not great. As of right now, I’m really just enjoying making noise. There is no one thing that is like “This is why I wanted to play the banjo”. My brother and his friend are musicians and they’re always down in the basement makin’ noise, and they treat their instruments like the same way I do a lot of painting. Not really looking for it to be anything specific or good, just making noise to make noise or painting to paint. It’s nonsense. Ear-nonsense. It doesn’t feel like a waste of time. And it has greatly helped me hold consistency. You don’t have to do it a lot, every or other day at least, you know? Just pick it up, give it a shot. And it’s almost always with me at this point.”
• Manahawkin, NJ •
“I’m so passionate about the use of psychedelic healing to evolve consciousness. It’s been so long that I don’t even identify with the person I was before my “awakening”. I probably dealt with adversity by distracting myself with partying or self destructive habits. I feel as though it is my role during my time on this planet to spread love, light and kindness through my work for the evolution of the collective. Creating and expressing myself through my brand is my way of doing that.”
— Eric Jacobs, 24
Creator of Onwards Collective
⠀
“I just love creating and using my mind to creative problem solve. It all kicked off when I took a graphic design class in high school. I always wanted to design clothing but didn’t have the confidence or skills until the class. Fast forward 5 years later and I have a locally popular clothing and lifestyle brand, where I’m able to take all of my creative passions and put them to work!
⠀
I’m pretty tuned in with my energy, thoughts and emotions intuitively so I’ve evolved to a place where I can step outside of the situation, become the observer, see the situation from a higher perspective and take the necessary steps to transform the energy whether it be through art, mindfulness or physical exercise. If I’m being honest, it takes a LOT to get to me. Eventually I just got to a point where I understood that I could be the observer and not attach myself to any negative situation or circumstance. Of course we all face them from time to time, I’m not perfect but I’m in a pretty good headspace where I don’t let them get in my way generally.”
⠀
As soon as I met Eric, he welcomed me (literally) with open arms into his home, a unique space of creativity and love. I knew from the start I was in for an awesome day, and have a beautiful friend as a result of this project.
⠀
“The journey IS the destination. Once you’re awake you live in a constant state of amazement.”
• Moorestown, NJ •
Copyright © 2024 JNM Imagery - All Rights Reserved