Lydia Mercer Illustration Thesis Spring 2020
In the Meantime...
“In the Meantime…” is an illustrated booklet that speaks to the currents of experience when struggling with depression, anxiety and our overall mental wellness. It’s a book about the many things we tell ourselves in order to manage their hold over us, and how we try (and often fail) to feel remedied by our own voice. Colorful, relatable and just a little offbeat, these whimsical vignettes are an encapsulation of these kinds of private thoughts; in all their awkward, defeatist, self-sabotaging, comforting, celebratory, and sad incarnations.
But this is not a self-help book or a how-to on self-care. This is a book about good intentions and bad results, an examination on failure and fortitude. It is my hope that through this project, the work will radiate a wistful yet warm assurance that these emotional states, as all-consuming and singular as they may seem, mark our membership in a larger fellowship in which we are never as alone as we may feel. Or, at the very least, how we might keep going in the meantime.