Ten years ago I attended an event where Australian musician Ben Lee encouraged us to ‘make our own medicine’. I attempted to do just that, by creating The Consciousness Series – 25 original photographs representing my significant values and experiences.
As it turns out, it worked. Intentionally making my own medicine has been an integral part of my personal healing process. Reflecting on this recently, I can sincerely say I have become better able to tolerate discomfort and ask for what I need. In all, I’m much less impetuous, and far more content, than I was ten years ago.
That’s not to say I don’t experience my share of anxieties and sorrows. Simply, that I am better able to weather them. I’ve proven this to myself time and time again in the intervening decade, and it is still true now, as I grapple with grieving the death of someone with whom I had a complex relationship.
Grief has compelled me to, once again, ‘make my own medicine’.
I had always wanted to create The Unconsciousness Series as a follow up, but lacked both the impetus and the understanding to conceptualise what this would mean.
Having completed a psychology degree and with ten more years of life experience, I now feel I have enough to offer to this project. I wanted this series to explore how the most hidden forces manifest in our daily lives. That is, how do our needs and experiences unconsciously move us further towards or away from ourselves and each other.
So, here is my attempt to represent 15 elements of our unconscious photographically. This project has not healed my grief but, as promised, it has been medicinal.
All photographs by Melita Caulfield.
This One Too 