Yin Yang

Lately, I have noticed that more and more people are making efforts to highlight the importance of mental and emotional wellness. Many of us are facing a multitude of challenges, with no significant way to deal with them and address these issues. Therefore, we find ourselves shrinking back and hiding from these problems, as well as from everyone and anyone. This happens to me too.

I recently did a shoot with a close friend of mine, and I truly got to understand what many people are going through as society forces them to live behind a mask. What I have come to realize is that while most people seem to have everything figured out, this is not really the case. We have different faces that we present to different people at different times. On the surface, we display a false sense of control, but on the inside, we are crashing and struggling to cry out.

My thoughts on mental illness and emotional wellness have greatly been influenced by the Chinese concept of "Yin Yang". Based on my research, this concept represents the idea of how two seemingly opposite energies work together in the natural world, and how these forces give rise to the one another. For example, night and day. For the day to begin, the night must end and vice versa. This means that two opposite forces make a complete whole and each aspect contains the beginning point for the other. This also applies to happiness and sadness.

For the purposes of this series, we will focus on how happiness and sadness correlate. One without the other cannot exist. For you to enjoy happiness, you must come to appreciate the sad times in your life. Over the past few weeks, I have been strongly criticizing myself for not being happy most of the time. I get frustrated when a pending business deal stalls or fails, when I fail to book enough clients, when I disappoint someone, or someone disappoints me. Then when the feelings of self-doubt start to creep in, I lose it completely.

However, without these moments of extreme anguish, would I be able to enjoy the small blessings in life? Or when things start going my way? I think not. Without allowing myself to feel all these emotions, then I would not be able to appreciate their place in my emotional journey. It is important to understand that nobody has a solution for everything and that you cannot fix everything right now. Find a balance, and find yourself in all the emotional chaos.

Express yourself and your emotions to someone who is willing to listen. It might just make a difference both ways. That is what I have done here, and I will leave you to interpret the photo series for yourself...

Shot with the amazing Wendy Omanga.

This conceptualization of this project was inspired by Francisca Kalekye, who was in-charge of the hair and makeup. Her work is straight fire!! 🔥

Special thanks to Bev for the awesome shooting space and hospitality. 💪💪👐