Women are twice as likely to struggle with anxiety than men. Women in their 40’s and those going through peri-menopause or menopause especially struggle with anxiety more than younger women. Yet there is little study to document this change, or research available on the solutions for women without making them feel that are being too emotional or sensitive or being taken seriously.  

Anxiety can be debilitating at times and can lead to panic attacks and one should definitely seek help especially if it is interfering with their everyday life. It is time for us to recognize that this is an important topic of conversation & to normalize it without labeling a woman that she is being oversensitive. Stress induced anxiety especially during the phases of motherhood, postpartum, balancing work & our careers, families, commute all while re-defining ourselves and our identities through the various transitionary periods is being more commonly reported amongst women from their mid-30’s onwards but there is very little support or medical research available.  

Through this visual self portrait series, its my humble intent to share what anxiety has felt like to me personally over the past 4 years from feeling that I am being pulled in various directions (the push-pull) to wanting to hide, being in shadows to feeling lost in my purpose - while also recognizing that those feelings come and go and that there’s always a rainbow at the end.   

This is an ongoing project where I am hoping to seek a grant/funding to continue working on it with women across the nation who might be experiencing anxiety and bringing their visual stories to light. My long term goal and hope is to ultimately publish a photo book of this series.