DEAD HAPPY

Dead Happy is a multi-media print series meant to convey blended emotions of joy and grief. The corrosion these emotions leave on one another forces us to adapt to new ways of perceiving ourselves. One must learn to cope with the decay of simplicity that moving through time brings. As a neurodivergent individual, processing life can be an overwhelming task. Over the last two years I have experienced substantial changes, marriage, death of loved ones, new therapy methods, new connections to my local queer community, and returning to academia to name a few. In years past I have felt such disconnect from my emotions that life began to feel motionless. Diagnosis and treatment of my Audhd and OCD allowed me to see the limitations I had placed on my own feelings and escape this stillness. Happiness felt a betrayal to grief, dissatisfaction a betrayal to the good in my life, but this is not so. We are our pain. We are our joy. We cannot only be half of ourselves. There is no correct way of reacting or feeling, no perfect despair, no limitless contentment. Dead Happy in turn is imperfect and just as trash as life itself! Joy is a rebellious act, grief is a love letter, they build and layer over, creating the new beauty out of the old, an urban decay of the soul.