tylerjabree:black—lamb:these photos were taken earlier this year when I attended school in Tennessee
tylerjabree:black—lamb:these photos were taken earlier this year when I attended school in Tennessee (my 4th year to be exact)I don’t know if you can tell but I was very sad at the time…Sad is actually an understatement… I had actually never thought about suicide before going to a religious school… But it’s just something about being surrounded by people who care about everyone else but the ones they are supposed to care about…People who set out to “help the broken” but who were too blinded by their own hypocrisy to help the broken ones right under their stuck up noses…I never would have guessed I would be sleeping in my car and in hotels all while trying to get my education at a place that literally hated me… Or the idea of what I represented.This piece, “Overhead” was one done in response to being told “create a work about how you are feeling” At the time I felt so empty and lonely that it physically hurt…“Overhead” represents the idea of a dark cloud overtaking a persons’ life… How the feelings of sadness can have a physical weight of it’s own… A presence if you will…I spent 5 days/nights (even after the piece was due) to finish this room sized installation. It consisted of over 500 fishing lines attached to a 15 x 20 ft grid and pounds of scrap bubble wrap … I did not finish the piece on time even when I asked for an extension… I just wanted to do my best..in my mind, it would all pay off…It didn’t. My professor: a racist homophobic sexist conservative man took it as his opportunity to put me in my place… To break me… he didn’t even look at the piece once it was done.. It was up for a week… He was so mad that I had finished it..At the end of the year he failed me….and ONLY me..an advanced sculpture student who had always made A’s and who had received scholarships for my work…Fast forward to now… I wish I could have told the person I was a couple months ago that everything was going to be ok… I’m now in NYC. Things are not perfect (I don’t have a degree after almost finishing school) but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.Tennessee broke me… and even thinking about “Overhead” brings back terrible feelings and resentment… But I’m so thankful it did. I was meant to be pushed away from that place.I’m free. “Just like a dark cloud everything passes.” -- source link