Aftershock (Working Title)

Project Summary

This project began as a commitment to creating a self-portrait each day of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment. As the process unfolded, it transformed into something more visceral: a daily ritual of making a mask after each session. These masks—handcrafted from paper and adorned with yarn, wool, beads, fabric, and other tactile materials—serve as raw reflections of the emotional residue left by treatment. Each mask captures a fleeting psychological state: worn, discarded, stitched together, or wildly expressive.

The project functions both as an intimate act of personal processing and as a larger commentary on how we wear, shed, and reshape our emotional landscapes during medical and mental health interventions.

Artist Statement

"Aftershock" is a living archive of my time undergoing TMS therapy—an experimental treatment aimed at rewiring my brain’s electrical patterns and, hopefully, my pain. Instead of documenting the journey with photos, I chose to make a mask each day. These masks are not costumes. They are not armor. They are what’s left behind: the heat, the silence, the absurdity, the shame, the occasional flicker of light.

Each one is built with urgency, made immediately after treatment while still buzzing with the ghost of the machine. Paper holds the base—the most fragile, flammable thing I could find—and I dress it in textures that remind me of touch, comfort, or chaos. Yarn, pom-poms, twine, scraps of clothing. Sometimes the materials feel gentle. Sometimes they scratch.

These aren’t masks to wear. They’re masks that wore me.

I offer them not as answers, but as evidence of process. This is not recovery. This is what comes just after the pulse—when the body still hums but the self is uncertain.

Here is Week 1: