The images above show family members holding a photograph of me as a child. These link to the first layer of my sculpture which shows images from my childhood, looking back at a time where I did not suffer social anxiety and I felt helped.

Having family members holding an image of me as a child is their way of holding onto what I used to be. My social anxiety doesn’t just effect me, but those around me. The image acts as metaphor for holding onto hope that I recover from social anxiety, and therefore going back to my childhood.

I also experimented with family members holding a photographs of me at my graduation. I had the idea of pairing this with the quote ‘Are you proud?’.  For me, graduating from university was one of my biggest achievements as I suffered badly from social anxiety during this time. The fact that I went onto finish the course and graduate was a proud moment for me, even though I struggled. Having family members holding onto a photo of me at my graduation, paired with the quote represents the idea of recovery, showing that even though there are difficult moments I can ‘beat’ the anxiety to hopefully make people proud.

I positioned each family member within the fame position which created consistency. I purposely didn’t show their faces, as a I wanted an anonymity to the work. It represents the loss of connection from me since I have suffered with anxiety, in comparison to the happiest times talked about previously during my childhood.