29 02 ‘ 2022   museomag 
CHALLENGING THE STIGMA ASSOCIATED 
WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES 
One of the fundamentals of Julie Wagener’s work is 
the recurring investigation of the so-called Selbst- 
verständnis, the perception and construction of the self 
in the society of the 21st century: Who am I, what am I, 
how do I see myself, how do others perceive me? What 
does it do to me if I do not feel seen? Am I finding it hard 
to find my place in this world, and if so, do I feel judged 
by society for feeling this way? Stress, anxiety and 
loneliness have become common symptoms of today’s 
fast-paced world, in which people increasingly base 
their individual happiness solely on professional achie- 
vements, economic success and constant productivity. 
For those who struggle and cannot keep up with this 
pace, society tends to have little empathy and quickly 
leans towards classifying those struggles as failures. 
In her work, Wagener tries to raise awareness of such 
tendencies and criticises a mentality of downplaying 
the seriousness of mental health problems with phrases 
like ‘It’ll all be fine’ or ‘It’s just a phase’. Mental health 
issues such as depression, burnout or anxiety and 
the various stigmas associated with them have thus 
become a common theme in Wagener’s paintings 
over the last couple of years (Centre d’Art Nei Liicht, 
2020). 
NEW ACQUISITION 
THE RISKS OF ISOLATION 
It hurts until it doesn’t III is the third work of a three-part 
series of the same name, created in 2020 against the 
backdrop of the pandemic and the effects of lockdown 
on people’s well-being. In many ways, the Covid-19 
crisis has helped to shed new light on the relevance of 
the subject in society and the importance of breaking 
with the taboos surrounding it. Through this series of 
paintings, the artist wants to highlight the numerous 
ways in which people have been experiencing and 
struggling with the lack of physical contact over the 
course of the pandemic. For people of all ages and 
walks of life, the last two years have been dominated 
by a sense of isolation, loneliness and alienation from 
society. In this context, the question that presents it- 
self to the viewer of Wagener’s painting is whether 
the person we are seeing here is perhaps someone 
who simply could no longer bear the burden of isola- 
tion and loneliness? Could this be someone who has 
long moved on from feeling isolated from society to a 
point, where he or she no longer wants to be a part of 
society altogether? In light of such questions, Wagener’s 
painting can thus be interpreted as a metaphor for the 
separation of the individual from the social body. 
Lis Hausemer