Focal (2022)

Focal was created as a result of my own struggle during an emotional time in which I had trouble concentrating and focusing on positive things. I was introduced to meditation, breathing techniques, and different ways to approach these issues. During this path, I found that drawing lines had not only a positive impact on me but also triggered the idea of creating fabric-like illustrations that would represent the complex weaving of our emotions.

One day when I couldn't escape my bad mood, my 5-year old son asked me to help him assemble a Lego set. I grabbed the instructions and started following them step-by-step. After an hour, I realized my mood had improved dramatically. It turns out I'd been using my frontal lobe (where logic happens in our brain) in order to build this structure instead of being trapped in a different part of the brain where emotions like to linger — I call it the "butt" of our brain. I also learned how to manage anxiety and how to dodge these moments of unbalance by focusing visually on a physical spot in whatever place these moments would occur. Doing so snaps the brain out of its spiral, creating a different path in the moment.

Focal is a mixture of these two, the brain as a complex fabric and the tool that can help us overcome struggle.