Mildred Bachrach

Where My Mind Is
An Artist’s Response to Pandemic 2020

Artist Statement
I employ art as a healing mechanism. Art allows people to understand that when  they experience the phenomena of psychic trauma, that they are not alone.  Psychic trauma is the universal response of humans to their impending death or  the death of a loved one. 

Art focused on traumatic experiences can become a catalyst for healing. After  the acute stage has passed, humans bury pain deep in the psyche where it  remains unhealed like a cut that becomes infected from within. Psychic pain, like an infection, can erupt at any time. Art provides a conduit to release and heal  the phenomena of psychic pain, keeping it from festering under the surface.

The Stages
Facing death or the death of a loved one causes psychic trauma. This is a  universal reaction for all people from the age of about seven on. Seven is  when children begin to understand the concept of death. After World War  

Two, psychiatrists studied holocaust survivors and found that they reported  specific experiences (phenomena) which impacted them. 

First, the mind shuts down and everything appears white, blank, detached  and floating. Second, is acute disorganization. The mind experiences  fragmentation of memories, fears, mixed emotions of mundane issues from  everyday life. Third, the disorganization decreases in time, but vivid  memories reoccur, which can be visual, auditory, and visceral sensory.

Fracturing 
The second stage of psychic trauma, acute disorganization, is most evident in  the loss or potential loss of a loved one. It is like living in a fractured world. One  tries to get back to some type of normalcy, but there is no going back. Survivors  have to create a “new normal”, which can take a lifetime to achieve. To achieve  a “new normal” one must survive being fractured while handling the mundane  chores of everyday life, and one's professional life in order to see what the  future will be like.

Fracturing of Objects 
Fracturing of objects that represent memories, dreams, and nightmares are shown in my current work on the pandemic. Fracturing is seen  clinically in adults and children who have experienced sudden death of a  loved one, received a diagnosis of a fatal disease for themselves or their  child, or have lived with a chronic, but potentially fatal disease. People are  embarrassed by it, dealing with the fracturing depresses them. It is a  continuous burden that the mind works on to put the loss into  perspective. By using fracturing in my work, I hope to show people that  fracturing is normal, a part of the process that the mind goes through to  survive and to heal. At night when we dream, our mind works to put things  together. Around 3 a.m. when the world is silent, quiet, and before dawn, if  one wake up from a “bad dream”, our mind is super active in thinking  about all of the scary issues that are going on.

The Pandemic focuses attention on the diminished value and fragility of the lives of the elderly. The population over sixty is at the mercy of the young who may not choose to mask or social distance. They are more dependent in doing the basic chores (such as shopping, communication, travel, animal care) and rely on others not to contaminate them. With the President of the United States initially not modeling safe behaviors and consistently down playing the risks, those over 60 become “The Expendables” in our society.

Studies on the perception of time by those in isolation, have found that time passed quickly when one has decreased stimulation. If one is socially distancing, wearing a mask, working from home; the decrease in interaction with people, and the environment, causes the days to blend together. One must keep training one’s mind to remember what the day of the week or the month it actually is.

Today is July 19th 2020. After months of continued denial from many in our nation, we now have suffered a death toll of over 140,000 lives. Our hope is now that common sense will finally kick in, and a vaccine will be found before the virus mutates. My concern is that when children go back to school and universities and colleges reopen, that will unleash “the spread”.

My studio is full of the images that you see. I am  surrounded by the reality of the world outside. At this  time to be able to function I am starting a new series  called “Hope, Faith and Charity”. This is to keep me sane  in a time of insanity. Be safe, be kind, and do your best. Before becoming a full time contemporary artist I was a  clinical specialist in nursing in a variety of roles,  including as a Public Health Nurse for the Maine CDC.I  have worked with MRSA, active TB, and other infections.  This is a new pathogen that scares the SH-T out of me.  I am not sure why people won’t believe - but until they do COVID 19’s defeat will be long and cost many more lives.  -Milly Bachrach RN, MN, MFA