Visualising the Unseen; Anxiety

Visualising Anxiety is a design-led exploration into how personal experiences of anxiety can be made visible, shareable, and open to reflection. Drawing inspiration from Melanie Scheer’s work on visualising mental imagery, this project investigates the emotional texture of anxiety—its intensity, distortion, and variation from person to person. The exhibition features a series of graphic posters that serve both as standalone artworks and as visual prompts. Each poster reflects a different interpretation of anxiety, based on workshop responses and research into emotional perception. Using elements like distortion, fragmentation, tension, and saturation, the posters attempt to express the intangible sensations often associated with anxious states. The posters also function as advertisements for the final part of the installation: a mirrored extension. This space invites viewers to physically confront their own reflection, surrounded by representations of emotional unease. The mirror becomes a personal and participatory layer, blurring the line between viewer and subject, internal and external.

Stephanie Bell