Jade Bryant on Art as Self-Therapy
Mental Ideas Ambassador and artist-activist Jade Bryant uses art as self-therapy and inspires others to do the same. By challenging the public’s perception of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), she spreads awareness, understanding and a message of hope to others who have the conditions. Here, she talks about the hidden meanings behind her flamboyant, colorful artwork.
The piece essentially shows how both the BPD (left side) and the ASPD (right side) work in tandem, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The ASPD often protects the BPD side when things get too overwhelming, which has brought me back from the brink of suicide many times. If I didn’t have that side to me, I really don’t think I’d be here.
The arm wrapped around the BPD side shows protection. The eyes are different, too. The BPD eye has green and blue colours to represent the innocence of feelings and the most predominant emotions I struggle with in a BPD crisis, which are depression, lonliness and helplessness. This is followed by self-realization of how I have behaved, which makes me become overly emotional.
The pupil of the BPD eye is multicoloured to represent the spectrum of emotions. Whereas, the ASPD eye is red and orange, with striking yellow, to signify the most dominant emotions and feelings I receive from that side of my personality, which are confidence, boldness, sometimes coldness and distance, independence and adaptability.
The mouths are different too. On the BPD side, the face is set in a frozen expression, representing shock and dissociation: wanting help, but not knowing how to ask for it. The ASPD side has more of a devilish smile because it represents how the condition can often be sneaky, cunning and manipulative, but also lustful, playful, independent and strong.
More Artwork by Artist Jade Bryant
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