Pondering on nothing, wondering why I so often feel, as some might say, “a bit under the weather.” Wish I could fathom the things that are so unclear. This is my own personal statement. As personal as it gets.
Some days I am content. Gregarious. Jocose. Sanguine. Other days I am not sure how I feel. Every thought, every choice, every action seems to affect my mentality and trigger my depression. I feel discombobulated by own personal issues and the state of the world. I get stuck. I rally. I regress. I regroup. Such is the state of my life. A continuous repetition of ups and mostly downs. This is the slow cancellation of my future.
The socio-political economic culture of the present day is out of sync; lived experiences don’t coincide with popular narratives; things simply don’t add up. Our collective mental health is at stake. Utopia itself has become an anachronism. Dystopic idealism (an oxymoron of the first order) appears to be holding sway. Understanding what something means requires the capacity to see it for what it is. Design makes ideas manifest in form. Like the poet who gives voice to the ineffable, the designer lifts the veil on the (as yet) unseen. So, what does the state of our mental health look like when viewed through the lens of cultural gaps, time, lost futures, and my own cognition? How can design articulate the strains we are under, the sheer force and physicality of what ails us, and unravel the unknown, or the known? Mental health is political, though it resides in the personal. My work as a designer aims to activate community around this serious societal issue.
Anachronistic: An error in computing time or fixing dates; the erroneous reference of an event, circumstance, or custom to a wrong date. Said etymologically (like prochronism) of a date which is too early, but also used in terms of too late a date, distinguished as parachronism.
Dyschronia: Lack of comprehension, awareness, and ability to manipulate concepts of time. Not only can individuals be dyschromic; entire cultures may be lost in time. But like dyslexia or dyscalculia, dyschromia implies a confusion of concepts and symbology.
Anachronistic Dyschronia was completed as part of Christian's Senior Thesis project while attending UIC’s School of Design program.
Course Instructor: Pouya Ahmadi
Course Instructor: Meghan Ferrill
Host: UIC School of Design
- Designer
- Christian Ortiz
Project link
