
New Jersey. 2017
When I moved to South Carolina in 2008 I fell into a very deep 5 year existential depression. I didn’t have the right resources to get through a big change like moving at a young age. I was very anxious and scared a lot of the time. I nally had to understand that not everyone will accept who you are head on. It was a period for me that I didn’t know myself at all and I was trying to learn about who I am in a place that would suppress a lot of what I wanted to express. So that led to a lot of philosophical questioning…lots of Sartre. I started to question my identity and my body and developed depersonalization. I felt that my body was more of something I was renting….or something that was given to me. I felt like I was placed in this world and didn’t know why and I didn’t like that I had to be okay with that. Basically it was a time of too many questions and very little answers. So all of this to say, the meaning behind the colors runs very deep. I think my work may come o as very happy, which it is, but to me it still has uncomfortable undertones which comes from that part of my life. The colors are me pushing away all of that negativity and heavy thinking. This is me now promoting that light playfulness in my life. It’s me knowing and accepting myself more, moving on from all of that, and just feeling better and creating. I think the most important thing that I want people to take from my work is that good things come from bad times. It was a huge lesson for me that I’m constantly learning over and over again. Taking responsibility of who I am and knowing how I react to adversity will be what determines how I feel about it and heal from it. I learned how to trust myself and it’s all because I was in super super uncomfortable positions. So that’s what I would want people to understand…and that you can get through and handle more than you think you can. Through my work I learned to not care what others think of you, that there is power in your imagination, and just to jump into what you love. That’s what I feel my work embodies to me personally.

Brooklyn. 2016
When I moved to South Carolina in 2008 I fell into a very deep 5 year existential depression. I didn’t have the right resources to get through a big change like moving at a young age. I was very anxious and scared a lot of the time. I nally had to understand that not everyone will accept who you are head on. It was a period for me that I didn’t know myself at all and I was trying to learn about who I am in a place that would suppress a lot of what I wanted to express. So that led to a lot of philosophical questioning…lots of Sartre. I started to question my identity and my body and developed depersonalization. I felt that my body was more of something I was renting….or something that was given to me. I felt like I was placed in this world and didn’t know why and I didn’t like that I had to be okay with that. Basically it was a time of too many questions and very little answers. So all of this to say, the meaning behind the colors runs very deep. I think my work may come o as very happy, which it is, but to me it still has uncomfortable undertones which comes from that part of my life. The colors are me pushing away all of that negativity and heavy thinking. This is me now promoting that light playfulness in my life. It’s me knowing and accepting myself more, moving on from all of that, and just feeling better and creating. I think the most important thing that I want people to take from my work is that good things come from bad times. It was a huge lesson for me that I’m constantly learning over and over again. Taking responsibility of who I am and knowing how I react to adversity will be what determines how I feel about it and heal from it. I learned how to trust myself and it’s all because I was in super super uncomfortable positions. So that’s what I would want people to understand…and that you can get through and handle more than you think you can. Through my work I learned to not care what others think of you, that there is power in your imagination, and just to jump into what you love. That’s what I feel my work embodies to me personally..

New Orleans. 2017
When I moved to South Carolina in 2008 I fell into a very deep 5 year existential depression. I didn’t have the right resources to get through a big change like moving at a young age. I was very anxious and scared a lot of the time. I nally had to understand that not everyone will accept who you are head on. It was a period for me that I didn’t know myself at all and I was trying to learn about who I am in a place that would suppress a lot of what I wanted to express. So that led to a lot of philosophical questioning…lots of Sartre. I started to question my identity and my body and developed depersonalization. I felt that my body was more of something I was renting….or something that was given to me. I felt like I was placed in this world and didn’t know why and I didn’t like that I had to be okay with that. Basically it was a time of too many questions and very little answers. So all of this to say, the meaning behind the colors runs very deep. I think my work may come o as very happy, which it is, but to me it still has uncomfortable undertones which comes from that part of my life. The colors are me pushing away all of that negativity and heavy thinking. This is me now promoting that light playfulness in my life. It’s me knowing and accepting myself more, moving on from all of that, and just feeling better and creating. I think the most important thing that I want people to take from my work is that good things come from bad times. It was a huge lesson for me that I’m constantly learning over and over again. Taking responsibility of who I am and knowing how I react to adversity will be what determines how I feel about it and heal from it. I learned how to trust myself and it’s all because I was in super super uncomfortable positions. So that’s what I would want people to understand…and that you can get through and handle more than you think you can. Through my work I learned to not care what others think of you, that there is power in your imagination, and just to jump into what you love. That’s what I feel my work embodies to me personally..
Note: The text above was written by the Artist. No modification was made by C.O.C.A.
Arielle Bobb-Willis
U n i t e d S t a t e s
Born and raised in New York City, with pit stops in South Carolina and New Orleans, Arielle Bobb-Willis is a young photographer working within her own realm. Arielle’s images are bold and inventive – full of angular shapes and clashing pastel colors that pop with a verve and tension. They are simultaneously calming and frenetic, comforting and beguiling. Arielle describes how her photography has acted as a medicine for depression, and that shines through. She has found strength and creativity in the mundane, a celebration of making do with what you have and nding a new-found joy and vitality in it. Despite its compositional nature, the images are biographical and come from a very personal place of struggle. Her work is an exploration of agency, nding balance within human connection.