My Surreal Photography Is A Reflection On A Long Battle With Depression

Published 5 years ago

I began exploring photography about 12 years ago; around the same time I faced depression for the first time in my life as a way to express my state of mind. Photography allowed me to escape into a different world, the one which I was creating, a place and a story that was lead by me, not that I was led by. However, after a few months I feel deep into the arms of depression and lost all passion for the medium.

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In 2014 when I had come out on the other side of the depression and was pursuing a BFA degree in Photography in San Francisco, I picked up the medium again and began to unconsciously explore themes of depression in my work.

Everything I created reflected on the years I was living with depression, inspired by psychology, surrealism and the Scandinavian landscapes that I grew up around. From there on it has been a medium I use to document our internal world focusing on themes inspired by psychology, surrealism and our unconscious mind.

My work is very personal to me, and has been a sort of therapy to combat my own emotions and experiences I’ve had over the years, yet I try to make it as anonymous as possible in order for it to speak to each spectator that will view it, so they can reflect back on their own journey in life through interacting with the internal world of the figures shown in my work.

I want my work to shine light on mental health and the darker and .

My work has been shown in galleries around the world and I hope to keep exhibiting it to the public in galleries and museum places in the future and turn it into a book in the nearest future.

Gabriel Isak

Gabriel Isak was born in 1990 in Huskvarna, Sweden. In 2016, he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Photography at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California. Isak has exhibited his work at solo exhibitions at The Cannery Gallery, San Francisco, California and his works have been included in various important exhibitions including “Acclimatize” at Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden and “Culture Pop” at M Contemporary, Sydney, Australia. Isak lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden, from where he travels all around the world for personal and commissioned projects.

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art, blue, depression, Gabriel Isak, gabrielisak, mental health, ocean, project, series, surrealism
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