A popular thread amongst social media and teens is the stigma surrounding mental health as well as understanding of how it affects us. Across our own campus it is being brought up in classrooms, clubs, and more recently in SDA’s art gallery. A recent piece in the gallery, located on the east side of the Mosaic, is fittingly entitled “Connectivity” by senior Hannah Elias and is intended to expand upon the idea of depression and how social connection is able to transform someone from an empty shell to that of a whole being.

Elias’s piece takes the form of a wire tree suspended from the gallery’s ceiling in the center of the space. The tree’s trunk lies in the floor, and there is an e empty space between the trunk and the branches that dangle precariously from the roof attached by translucent fishing wire above your head as you walk in. At first glance the tree looks empty, with space between the trunk and the branches. The branches themselves are hollow outlines of wire, but in Elias’s own words that was the purpose and idea behind the piece. “You are the connection. You give this broken tree life. You are the veins, the life force,” she said.

With most art you view, you look at from a distance and admire the piece, but in distancing yourself from the piece of art you distance yourself from the emotion the artist attempted to translate through their art. In observing an object you change the nature of that object; however, if you are part of the piece you can make it what you want it to be.

This is what Elias was trying to accomplish. “I feel art has the reputation where it needs to be hung on a wall. I wanted to push the boundary of that concept,” she said. Her work does that; people didn’t understand it, when someone would walk in they would look for directions on what they were supposed to do, yet there was no wrong way to interact with the piece.
It is up to the viewer to decide how to interact and become a part of the tree and the work. In doing so the viewer forms a connection and makes the tree whole.

“Connectivity” does something that isn’t common or easy in art. It takes the viewer and makes them a part of the piece, which allows for a deeper emotional connection, and in doing so creates a truly unique piece, both in technique and form. Elias’s work varies, from drawing, painting, cartooning, and sculpture, it is obvious that her work is at its strongest when she works from her heart and not from her head. You can see this wonderful work through November 28th, and many other great pieces in our local gallery.