Inspired by the challenging circumstances of the first UK 2020 Covid-19 Lockdown, I created a project titled “Trichotillomania Lockdown Calendar” consisting of a calendar with personal diary-like entries exploring the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and consequent Lockdown on my mental wellbeing, focusing on its effects on my Trichotillomania condition. This condition, also known as “hair pulling disorder”, is a mental disorder characterise by the compulsive urge to pull one’s hair, falling into the category of Body Focused Repetitive Behaviour (BFRB) disorders.
The BFRB’s are common disorders that affect a significant percentage of the population, varying in different degrees of intensity and damage, but due to the shame and stigma that is followed by these practices, people suffering from these conditions are often silent, isolated and avoid reaching out to a support system. These conditions are often triggered by highly stressful and tense situations, aggravated by long periods of uncertainty in one’s life, which is precisely the case with the first Covid-19 National UK Lockdown. During this time people suffering from BFRB manifested an increase in their respective disorder effects, resulting in people damaging their bodies and psyche significantly.
With this calendar project I aim towards raising awareness on these “invisible conditions” that go by unnoticed by the public, by informing the audience on the realities of living with a BFRB disorder and also reach out to people suffering from these conditions to let them know they are not alone, while also introduce them to online support systems. The calendar is presenting the condition of Trichotillomania in particular, since it is the one I suffer with and therefore the one I am most familiarised. To better illustrate the daily life of someone suffering with Trich (for short), each day of the calendar is dedicated to the circumstances that were the most prominent and which influence my hair pulling on that day. Additionally, next to each day is a synthetic hair sample representing the quantity of hair pulled on that particular day.
To See my full work check the page: www.thisislis.com/ttmlockdowncalendar/
See my work on the online exhibition here