Play Therapy

Children have many anxieties in a world that is almost entirely unknown to them and they process these feelings through parenting and playing out stressful scenarios with toys. When you grow up you are expected to shed childish coping mechanisms but the anxieties you feel do not lessen. In this work I return to the teddy bear to process my anxieties through placing the bear in a myriad of stressful scenes inspired by my life.
Anxieties like the financial struggles in a cost-of-living crisis and medical issues should be familiar to any audience however through this project I realised these stressors ebb and flow whereas some remain constant. I found a fear of loss, loneliness and the uncertainty of when it would come was most poignant in my life. While this is more directly alluded to in the work through the recreation of my breakup texts and a real excerpt from my diary it is more abstractly referenced in the central image of the work. The anxiety in this image is not explained as it is in the others but felt though the insignificance and loneliness of the bear in the landscape.
The absurdity of teddy bear dealing with adult issues adds humour to the work and allows the audience to find some joy in their stresses while also feeling a sense of connection through shared hardships.