Violetta Nagy

BA New Media with Arts Management Minor

ARTIST STATEMENT: This series of illustrations borrows the imagery of Alice in Wonderland to describe my experiences living with maladaptive daydreaming, PMDD, low self-esteem, and depression. Maladaptive dreamers mentally disappear into detailed and fantastical daydreams and may unknowingly act out the behavior, movement, or dialogue for the characters in their daydream. My daydreams frequently turned into negative experiences as I also have PMDD – premenstrual dysphoric disorder – which causes sudden surges of anxiety, depression, and self-deprecating thoughts, that make me feel like my mental state and emotions are spiraling out of control.

In these illustrations, the characters from my fantasy life, and the disparate natures of my personality, don the guises of Alice in Wonderland characters; the appearance of their original forms still shine through in the form of unexpected clothing choices, different physical features, and magical auras. While the scenarios my “Alice” goes through in these illustrations resembles Wonderland, these fantasies and mental illness flare-ups can occur at any time during everyday activities. The wall-text is my own words, describing my lived experience with these various conditions in the style of a children’s story.