Grace Palacios

For the metaphorical self-portrait assignment, I decided to draw a medicine cabinet. This is because medicine represents the process of overcoming health issues and getting mentally and physically healthier. In my case, I struggle with social anxiety disorder on top of many other health issues that have been an incredibly hard mental and physical hurdle to overcome in my life. Even though my social anxiety is something negative that affects all aspects of my life, it makes me who I am at the end of the day. Struggling with anxiety made me question my identity for a very long time. However, I’ve come to terms that maybe I can turn my social anxiety into something positive that’s shaped the person I am today. This piece is made from colored pencil in order to show a vibrant color palette in contrast to the small size of this piece. The color palette is vibrant to show the process of overcoming my health issues. The size of the piece alludes to the fact that mental health issues are sometimes private to one’s life and not something that people are proud of having.