The purpose of this project is to raise awareness about bipolar disorder. This psychological disorder produces wild mood fluctuations that range from manic state to depressive state. It cannot be cured, but with proper treatment and care from the others, people with bipolar disorder can have a balanced life.
The project continues my experimental work in Cognitive Poetry. Its theoretical considerations are based on the assumption that one of the major purposes of creative work is to elicit aesthetical reaction in the recipient. The aesthetical reaction could be achieved via satiation with multiple meanings presented through multiple sensory modalities. Thereby, a greater synergy is achieved, which in turn increases aesthetical reaction to a work of art. However, the core element of any work in Cognitive Poetry remains a poetic text. In the present project, it is combined with photography.
The signature mood oscillations are conveyed through poetic text, which alternates the verses expressing fluctuating manic and depressive states, respectively. Each verse is incorporated within a photograph of a female figure enriching the poetic text with visual expressions.
In this project, I have also experimented with a cross-modality technique; that is, applying the elements of one modality to another. The application of this technique to poetry is well known in contemporary literature: Visual Poetry enriches poetic text with visual elements. In this project, I did the reverse and applied the key poetic methods to manipulate visual elements. In poetry, rhymes and meters link separate elements thereby constructing a specific rhythm of the poem that unites those elements in a coherent whole. I have applied this modus operandi to photographs in the present work.
Thus, three pieces depicting depressive state and three pieces depicting manic state follow the structure of sestina (DMMDMD). The resemblance with this poetic form is reinforced by repeating the ending of each previous verse in the beginning of a new verse. Further, each pair of these states is linked by a visual ‘rhyme’ constructed through a photograph’s focal element (hands, clavicle, and rope). These poetic methods applied to visual elements combine independent pieces in a coherent whole. Due to this intrinsic connectedness, the order of presentation becomes irrelevant.

This project was presented at SIKKA Art Fair.
120x100cm Diasec® 4+4 prints