Madeline LeBlanc

Over 51 days, I created Mom’s Starry Night on my mother's bedsheets as she underwent a difficult psychosis. Through this work I seek to draw parallels to Van Gogh's mental state during the creation of his work Starry Night. Inspired by the movement and energy in Van Gogh's Starry Night and modern Japanese art styles, I set out to capture a sense of wave-like force in my mark-making and composition.

This piece was created with mundane materials such as pencils, wax crayons, wall paint, fabric paint, and even avocado pits, which were used to dye my mother’s bedsheets pink. The muted and calm tones of the color palette provide an eerie juxtaposition to the complexity of the work, which is designed to impart a sense of the immense power that mental illness can hold over one's life. Hidden within the composition are characters that are representative of a range of emotional states, all of which I liken to my mother's experience with psychosis, appropriately titled her "starry night."

The piece is a powerful reflection on myself as both artist/caretaker and my mother. My Mother’s bedsheets became a canvas for the interplay of our emotions, and the act of drawing became a way to both process and transcend the difficulties of the situation.