It is with me every day, and you know what, I think it will be with me forever. This is how I attempt to define depression.
It’s not a comforting friend who stays by my side, wrapping its arms around me and moving closer. It darkness which engulfs, dragging me under waves of never ending torment. It’s depression. These words are intriguing and melancholy, but they can never express the totality of depression.
So many people suffer from depression, including artists and musicians. In fact, artists, writers and musicians use their darkness to create some of the most striking work. To them, their creations do a much better job at describing depression and telling a story. Here are a few examples of the terrifying, yet beautiful work of artists who are way too familiar with depression.
Mental illness feels like part of the mind is leaving, literally flying away in dark flecks of madness. To define depression would be to define chaos in its silent form.
Artwork by Carts
Not only does depression make us feel like we are held down in restraints. It can also make us perceive ourselves as if we are blending into the muck which grips us. It is infectious, binding and suffocating.
Artwork by Shawn Cross
Artwork by Sebmaestro
To define depression would be to paint a neverending pattern of pain. We scream, but can they hear us? This pain goes on and is accompanied by confusion and even helplessness.
Depression is more than just feeling bad for ourselves or being sad. These are drastic misinterpretations made by those who not only fail to understand but refuse to accept anything other than stigma. Depression is like death, a finality that will not let go of us. It’s strange. It’s as if this bleak thing is comforting us in its own darkness.
Artwork by Haenuli Shin
Artwork by Robert Carter
“I am trapped, I am screaming and clawing at my hair because I cannot break free from this!” That’s what we’re saying, while our face portrays no indication of how we really feel.
Depression transforms a whole person into a fragment, a smudge of who they used to be. While, in ways, you feel whole, in other ways, you feel like you are being wiped away, erased even.
Artwork by Clara Lieu
Artwork by Emily Clarke
Victims of depression want you to know what’s happening to them, but they can’t explain well. The pain is so intense that no words could suffice. They feel the monster of mental illness grip them, holding them hostage from the salvation of a sound mind. There is no sanctuary.
One way to define depression would be to compare it to draining life force. It’s as if someone pulled the plug and all brightness and color melted away, leaving only a flat, black and white world.
Artwork by Lolitpop
Artwork by Ajgiel
The mind of depression is not only dark, it’s unruly and it grows day by day. The darkness is never satisfied in the confines of your mind and it can be contagious at times, spreading with black tentacles searching for more victims.
To define depression is to explain true loneliness. No matter how hard you strive to understand your illness or to make others understand, it’s just too complicated. This image, as with all the rest, is the best way to catch a glimpse of depression.
Artwork by Spagheth
Depression holds us down, and yet it creates a sense of never being grounded to our own world. Sometimes, it’s almost impossible to keep from drifting away while never being able to rise from the hell of our own minds.
Artwork by Margarita Georgiadis
I know these feelings, and I’ve painted similar images to depict the war within. To define depression would be impossible, but to help you get an idea of how it must feel to fight this battle, I give you the unadulterated imaginative dark mind. The mind of depression, the art of expression…
the closest to the definition of depression you may ever see.
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The message of these artworks speaks loudly T_T
Wow this artwork is so expressive really explains how i feel thankyou for you epic talent
WOW!! I am literally in tears after reading this article and looking at these absolutely beautiful portrayals of depression. I have battled with depression all my life. Doc says I'll have to be on meds for rest of my life. All of the artwork here are feelings I have felt, feel from time to time, and will still battle to feel in the future. It's a daily battle to fight those negative demons. Thank you so much for bringing the feelings to life. It is very difficult to express in words and these are just absolutely wonderful pieces of art. Thank you. ❤️
It feels as if a piece of my soul was tore and binded into the makings of a masterpiece, my secrets clear as day and laid bear for the world to see. This certainly showed humanity's expression that words cannot define by itself.