Mental health support and access to ceramics are both resources that have only been made accessible to me later in my life. As a child of immigrants, I grew up in a family that stigmatized psychological issues. I never felt comfortable discussing my own struggle with depression and anxiety with my mother. Due to this, I still struggle with my words when it comes to talking about my mental health in counseling.
Ceramics have been an amazing way to express how I feel and process my emotions in a way that practices mindfulness through visual and tactical stimulation. The malleability of the clay and the movements of my hands as I form the clay often eases my anxiety. I often struggle with meditation due to my racing thoughts, but ceramics help me achieve this meditative state. In addition, building ceramic sculptures makes me feel a sense of achievement that helps with my depression. I am so grateful to have been able to discover this through taking many ceramics classes at my college. I would love to see more spaces where ceramics and other art mediums can be accessible to people of marginalized backgrounds throughout their life and offer the same support it did to me.
I have included two works that I am most proud of. The green vase is the biggest sculpture I’ve made, standing at three feet.
EXPRESS is a new section of our blog devoted to YTP’s creative community.
