The Absent Artist - Current MA Degree Project

The Absent Artist: An auto-ethnographic exploration into the complexities of the human experience relating to mental health, anxiety and depression. Grounded in the visual traditions of Baroque and Renaissance oil painting, The Absent Artist builds on these classical aesthetics through contemporary photographic practice and kinfolk-inspired imagery. At its heart, The Absent Artist engages with the romanticised cliché of “the tortured artist,” questioning the assumption that mental illness is a prerequisite for artistic greatness. Rather than perpetuating the myth of suffering as essential to creativity, the work quietly challenges it, suggesting that art and wellbeing need not stand in opposition. By mapping the terrain between inner turbulence and outward articulation, The Absent Artist seeks to construct a narrative that bridges the personal and the universal, inviting deeper engagement with the complexities of lived experience. Ultimately, the project investigates photography’s potential as both a tool of self-expression and as a medium for reflection, one that makes visible the often-invisible realities of mental illness.