Marcela Sabiá Creates Body-Positive, Mental Illness Inspired Art
Editor’s note: If you struggle with self-harm, the following post could be potentially triggering. You can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting “START” to 741-741. For a list of ways to cope with self-harm urges, click here.
Marcela Sabiá, an artist based in São Paulo, Brazil, wants to help others living with mental illness feel better about themselves. For Sabiá, the best way to do this is through art, and her artwork – a mixture of body-positive and mental illness inspired creations – resonates in its focus on promoting self-love.
I have already talked about my treatment for depression and anxiety but I have never given much details about my depressive phase and I think I can help someone by sharing my story (at least I hope so). I was always very sensitive but soon after I was diagnosed with Panic Syndrome the depression that already existed became very deep. I felt absolutely nothing, just an emptiness and a permanent fatigue. I was lying all day and the things I liked to do before did not interest me anymore. I ate very little and did not feel like talking to anyone. When I had to socialize with other people who knew I was depressed I felt they looked at me differently and I became ashamed, as if they found me a unbalanced/crazy person. I also felt a lot of guilt because I had many things to be grateful for and yet I felt such great sadness within me. Over time the medication was helping me as well as the therapy sessions and today I am a much stronger person and that phase is behind. I still have to deal with depression and anxiety in certain ways but today I control my mind and not the other way around. What I mean is that it is possible to live well and overcome depression, no matter how severe it may be. The key is to seek help, share your feelings instead of trying to deal with it yourself. Thousands of people suffer quietly from mental illnesses thinking they are the only ones who feel that way and that is because there is still a great difficulty in talking about it.This stigma must end for us to be free and mentally healthy. It’s not your fault and it’s a disease like any other. There is solution for depression and there is no shame in assuming that you are not well. You are never alone ❤❤❤❤????#mentalhealth
“I think I am inspired by my own difficulties and experiences… It makes me want to create pieces that help us to be more positive about ourselves,” Sabiá, 26, who lives with depression and anxiety, told The Mighty. “I think all the pain we experience can result in incredible art. Having a mental illness made my creations very real and sensitive, I believe. With my mental disorders, I began to use my illustrations as support and [a] tool for my recovery and overcoming.”
In addition to creating relatable artwork, Sabiá pairs each image with her own experience or a message of hope. In her illustration of self-harm scars, Sabiá writes, “[D]o not be ashamed of your scars, no matter what the reason for them. They are a story told in your body, a beautiful sign that you can heal and that you have survived. Show your scars to tell the world that life goes on and take pride in how strong you are.”
“In a culture where people want to show only the best of their lives, it’s easy to feel like you’re the only person struggling while everyone is happy,” Sabiá shared. Writing about her own personal experience, is just one of the ways Sabiá hopes to dispel this mirage created by social media.
“I speak of things that people do not want to talk about precisely so that these people feel included and see that we are all equal and capable.”
Sabiá’s posts have touched upon going to therapy, as well as her personal experience living with “panic syndrome” known as panic disorders in the U.S.
Describing her journey on Instagram, Sabiá writes:
I was always very sensitive but soon after I was diagnosed with Panic Syndrome the depression that already existed became very deep. I felt absolutely nothing, just an emptiness and a permanent fatigue. I was lying all day and the things I liked to do before did not interest me anymore. I ate very little and did not feel like talking to anyone. When I had to socialize with other people who knew I was depressed I felt they looked at me differently and I became ashamed, as if they found me a unbalanced/crazy person. I also felt a lot of guilt because I had many things to be grateful for and yet I felt such great sadness within me. Over time the medication was helping me as well as the therapy sessions and today I am a much stronger person and that phase is behind. I still have to deal with depression and anxiety in certain ways but today I control my mind and not the other way around.
Sabiá also hopes her artwork can help dispel some of the stigma surrounding mental illness. “There is also stigma with people who have mental illness, we are still seen as crazy or we are not taken seriously,” Sabiá said. “There is still a lot of ignorance. [O]ne of the hardest things is to know that we are going to deal with it for the rest of our lives and we can never consider ourselves totally healed, even if we are very well in the present.”
Sabiá hopes that those who see her art learn more about mental illness. People don’t choose to have a mental illness, she said, it’s a health problem like any other physical condition is. “Just as we have a sore throat and need medication, our minds can also become ill and need treatment. It is normal and happens with all kinds of people. I would like people to understand how serious and real this is.”
“I want my work to make people feel less alone,” she added. “May they be freed from the idea that they are strange, problematic, ugly and not deserving of love.”
For more of Sabiá’s artwork, follow her on Instagram.
Jordan Davidson is The Mighty's Managing Editor. Follow her on twitter @JA_Davids or email her at jordan@themighty.com.
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