The social issue that I’ll be depicting is black women and mental health. I think this is an important social issue because in society there is the depiction of the strong black woman. This depiction of black women is a horrible stereotype. Because of this stereotype it projects that we are not allowed to break and that we have to strong all of the time. And when we do break, our emotions are not taken seriously, and it might lead to us not getting care. According to the Psychiatric Times, studies have shown that Black individuals are less likely to seek (and subsequently accept) mental health care, secondary to concerns regarding stigma. So, for this project I want to depict that it is ok for black women to properly feel their emotions. The two image ideas I’m going to use to explore this idea is “The Scream” by Edvard Munch and Flaming June by Frederic Leighton. I chose to explore the one by Munch because the person in the painting looks like they are steaming in pain. So the aspects I’ll use for this is the hands holding the face and the the scream.  I also chose the one by Leighton to explore because of the way the woman in the painting is laying on the couch. I don’t know what emotion is exactly being depicted here, for all I know she could actually just be sleeping, but I feel there’s a lot I could depict with this image.

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/the-state-of-mental-health-of-black-women-clinical-considerations