Melissa Ford

I have always been drawn to dichotomies: the stark contrast of black and white, the push and pull between life and death. This fascination permeates my artwork, where I create either emotive black and white pieces or vibrant, chaotic imagery. Over time, I realized this duality extended beyond my creative practice and into my sense of self, how I thought, acted, and moved through the world. My experience felt fragmented, swinging between extremes that distorted my perception of reality. In the lows, I disconnected, questioning whether I was truly alive or if the world around me was real. Exhaustion settled over me like a weight, pulling me into silence and darkness. In the highs, life became sharp and exhilarating, my mind racing with ideas, my body buzzing with energy. But even in those moments, I knew the crash was inevitable. Sometimes, the two states collided, leaving me caught in a whirlwind of contradiction, physically exhausted yet unable to slow down, emotionally numb yet overstimulated, disconnected but painfully aware.

This exhibition embodies those extremes, as well as the spaces in between. The colorful weavings–Euphoria, On Edge, Havoc, Oblivion–reflect heightened states: grandiosity, intensity, the overwhelming force of elevated moods. Disreality explores the opposite pole: exhaustion, fragmentation, the struggle to hold oneself together when lost in dissociation. The final body of work, Mood Swings, visualizes the simultaneous existence of opposing moods, where emotions do not simply shift but clash, creating an internal dissonance that resists categorization. One view of the piece may reveal the cohesive image, creating the illusion of stability, while another angle can dissolve into chaos, mirroring the disorienting, distorted experience of shifting extremes.

For those with mood disorders, reality is not a fixed concept, it bends and fractures under the weight of emotional instability. These fluctuations make it difficult to situate ourselves within a larger narrative, to trust what is real. The mind becomes its own unreliable narrator, spiraling into self-doubt, paranoia, or detachment so profound that the world feels like an illusion. This work gives form to the intangible, making internal distress visible, to create a sense of connection for those who have felt lost in their own minds. Though these extremes can feel isolating, they are not experienced in isolation, as they speak to the broader human experience, the natural ebb and flow of emotions, the ways we all navigate change. Mood swings shape how we understand ourselves, how we construct our realities, and move through an ever-shifting emotional landscape. By immersing viewers in these fluctuating states, I hope to spark reflection on the fluid nature of identity, perception, and the blurred line between stability and instability.