As an artist who lives with depression and bipolar II, Liz Obert sometimes feels that she leads “a double life.”
“I have one persona that people see everyday, and another that I hide from the world,” Obert writes. “Many others who suffer from bipolar and depression have the same experience.”
The talented photographer decided to base her newest photographic project on what it’s really like to live with mental illness — and the resulting series, Dualities, includes a dual self-portrait showing the composed, confident, polished face she presents to the world — juxtaposed against an honest portrayal of her existence behind closed doors when feeling depressed.
Obert, who has taken ten dual portraits so far but wants to create more, says she asks her subjects to write down on the printed images how they feel in each photo.
In her own “behind closed doors” caption, she lists phrases including “red wine and pizza”, “close friends” and “trying not to think”, while below her “public face” portrait she writes “socializing, happy hour, camping, climbing, feeling pretty, optimistic, everything will be all right.”
The Portland, Oregon-based artist says she hopes her work will “reduce the stigma of bipolar and depression”.
“Through this series and the conversations that I hope it inspires, people without these disorders can connect with the people who have them,” she wrote.
We think the series is pretty damn excellent. Take a look at the rest of the series so far:
Liz by Liz Obert Jason by Liz Obert John Paul by Liz Obert Katherine by Liz Obert Brian by Liz Obert Steph by Liz Obert Sharon by Liz Obert Jonathan by Liz Obert Tamera by Liz Obert Cindy by Liz Obert
Obert also told Slate the project has also taught her just how misunderstood mental illness remains.
“As I’ve been doing this project I found that a lot of people don’t have a clear view of what bipolar and depression is—bipolar in particular,” she said. “I think the world still needs to be educated a bit more in that process.
“Robin Williams’ death brought it up a bit in the press and through that we were able to create discussions about it but most of the time it is unspoken.”
You can find Liz Obert’s website here.
Top Comments
I saw these images and how powerful they are. As the mother of a daughter with bipolar 2 I see the 2 faces all the time. What saddens me is to see her daily struggle to maintain a normal life. She is highly intelligent with and works but every day is a struggle and a fight to keep going. To read a comment such as "lying on a sofa" shows the ignorance of people out there to mental health. She wants a family one day but this will mean coming off her medication. I am always truly amazed to witness her strength to fight
It's interesting to see the view people without mental illness have on these photos. "Welcome to real life", and "Some days I just want to chillax on the couch with red wine and pizza too. Nothing abnormal about that".
As a person with mental illness, I can see beyond the photograph because I live it. It's not a case of just chillaxing on the couch with some vino and pizza. It's much, much darker than that. Much more than what you can see. That person on the couch isn't just kicking back. They are using every ounce of their energy doing it. Fighting the battle going on in their brain. Mustering up as much energy as possible to even complete the most basic tasks such as getting up to have a shower. I'm not bipolar (just extreme depression and anxiety), so I can't really comment on the other photos as those days are very rare for me. When they do happen, however, they are an act. A grueling, exhausting, anxiety provoking act.
There will always be people who have misconceptions about mental disorders, because they have never experienced it personally. I've given up trying to explain it to people. Most of the time they just look at me like I'm crazy (which, I might add, I'm not. Just ill.)
When I read comments like those below it sadly demonstrates how far we have to go with rd ducation on this matter