Madeline Crew

Photography – Minneapolis

Madeline Crew is a visual artist living and working in Saint Paul MN. Her personal work has been juried into galleries around the Twin Cities and can be seen during the Saint Paul Art Crawls. \"PTSD: Coping with the Past Self\", is being created to bring awareness to the specific traumas experienced by women and provide viewers a look into the effects these traumas have on a persons pyshe. Traumatic events experienced by women develops into Post-traumatic Stress Disorder at highly alarming rates. Among the many symptoms that come along with PTSD, the harshest piece to cope with is the loss of self, and the phenomenon of Orpha, or the splitting of self during a traumatic event. The images were created by collaborating with a women who has suffered from PTSD for over thirty years. Through conversations with her about her story and about her experience with PTSD, I encouraged her to express this experience through metaphor or similie. From these metaphors, similes, and phrases that she used to explain her experience with the disorder and the past self, I created images that illustrate them. In attempting to give a glimpse of this experience for the viewers, I hope to raise awareness of the pain and shattering of selfs, that are direct effects of these most highly occurring traumas.