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
