The Dark Decision

Steven Meisel

After struggling between my ideas for the celebration and the medicinal, I have decided to pursue the concept of interpreting - in photographic images - the impact that the mind has over the physical body . While this is something that I studied in great detail over the summer (as I wrote a 14 page research paper on the subject), it is a very complicated issue and I know the research that I have done will not be easy to flesh out in easily interpreted pictures. I am eager though, to find ways in which to express this phenomenon, as I feel that it is important for people to understand the power that their psychological well-being has on their physical health.

The mind-body connection is not given the attention it deserves in mainstream Western medicine, despite the fact that studies has proven an undeniable connection. The majority of research has been broken down into two sides: the power of optimism or a positive mindset and the power of negative psychological factors, such as pessimism, stress, and depression. There are few studies that have analyzed both sides at the same time as the need to isolate factors within medical research is of the utmost importance.

Although I am still contemplating specific ways in which to portray the results of the clinical trials I studied this summer, I do have an idea of the aesthetic look I am aiming to portray. This series of photographs by Steven Meisel, published in Italian Vogue, is very close to the look I have envisioned for my photographs that will portray the effect that negative psychological factors have on the human body. I find them to be very reminiscent of the aesthetic in Frank Miller's movie "Sin City".