"The Space in Between" series consists of 4 large, mixed media drawings depicting various insects in situations that represent my personal life experiences and struggles dealing with a mental disorder and the irrational fears that come with it. I chose insects as a vessel to relay my message across because since a young child, I have always had a deep connection with the creepy crawlies that inhabit our planet. Just like insects, I understand what it's like to be the outcast of the group because of something I cannot control. 

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The first two drawings in this series, a broken cicada shell with flowers growing out from the carnage, and a cluster of centipedes being dragged in every direction, are a reflection of what it felt like to constantly battle my OCD when I didn't know how to manage the symptoms yet. It was easy to let my thoughts take over and pull me every which way while also occasionally getting stuck on one thought for so long that it rooted itself and grew vines in my mind. The other two drawings focus on the more irrational side of OCD, tackling outlandish fears and the "what ifs" in life. One of those fears is getting stuck in an endless cycle of work and never actually getting the chance to enjoy life. That is the message that the grasshopper is telling, the harder he works, the further he gets dragged down with little chance of breaking the cycle. The last drawing depicts pieces of a human skeleton crawling its way out of a caterpillar's body. This is meant to elicit feelings of escape and the idea of "breaking free" from something but only partially. I say partially because there truly is no escaping from mental disorders unless you learn to coexist with them. 

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My goal with this series was to make the viewer feel uneasy when they looked at these illustrations in order for them to find the "space in between" horror and fantasy. An artist that I often draw inspiration from when it comes to creating successful unsettling scenes is Juji Ito. He is a Japanese illustrator and author of multiple "cosmic horror" themed books. To make his characters appear more sinister, he often distorts their faces or plays with proportions slightly so everything seems just a little uncanny to look at. I decided to take that approach with my caterpillar and grasshopper drawings by combining human features with the caterpillar's body and distorting the size and proportions of the grasshopper. 

In the end, even if people don't particularly like giant bugs or creepy crawlies, I hope that the viewer is able to find the space in between what is unsettling and what is fascinating.