Senior photography major Lukas Williams’ art exhibition, “Dark Matter,” is a collection of photos that displays the beauty that can come from mental illness. His exhibit premiered on April 8 at 2 p.m. in Derthick Hall basement.
Upon walking into the room, visitors were greeted by ominous music and dark lighting. On the back wall a video played of Williams at a table in the woods using random objects. Tables were spread throughout the room with various objects from the video.
“Every object is a family heirloom,” Williams said. “I thought they were appropriate, because many people in my family struggle with mental illness.”
The only things in the room that contained color were the food and heirlooms. The intention behind the lack of color was to draw visitors’ eyes to different points in the room.
“This exhibit is very unconventional but very Lukas,” photography professor Alice Anthony said. “We haven’t had someone do a video on the wall before, but every detail in this exhibit is perfectly him.”
Students also noticed how different the exhibit was from the usual art exhibitions.
“Because this exhibit is so unconventional it gives me confidence to step out of the box for my own exhibit,” sophomore photography major Ashlyn Lightfoot said.
Each photo in the exhibit was a black and white portrait with a medical number as the title. The numbers were medical codes for different mental illnesses; each photo was an abstract representation of the illness.
One photo that resonated with Williams was titled “F.44.81,” which was a self-portrait of Williams. “F.44.81” is the medical number for dissociative identity disorder, which is something that Williams struggles with.
DID, formally known as multiple personalities disorder, is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personal identities.
“This photo is particularly meaningful, because during the time it was taken I was going through an episode of personalization,” Williams said.
As people walked through the exhibit, Williams wanted an open dialogue about mental illness and encouraged them to ask questions about the naming behind the photos.
“I always intended to incorporate mental illness into my show, but I never intended it to become the entire show,” Williams said. “Mental illness became the show’s focus, because I wanted people to know they are not alone.”
“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into for this exhibit,” senior photography minor Carissa Limiero said. “This has to be the best put together art show I’ve seen though.”
The next senior art exhibition is Caroline Walker’s on Sunday, starting at 2 p.m. in the lower level of Derthick Hall.