Date of Award

4-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Art History and Visual Culture

Department

Art

First Advisor

James DaVania

Second Advisor

Michael Wartgow

Third Advisor

Peter Cotroneo

Abstract

Petals of the Mind is an applied studio art project that explores the use of symbolic floral imagery to visually represent internal emotional states, specifically depression, anxiety, and ADHD. This project consists of six large format digital posters created in Procreate. Each emotional category is represented by a pair of flowers selected for their symbolic and structural characteristics: Blue Poppy and Black Rose for depression, Tulip and Aster for anxiety, and Honeysuckle and Wildflower Mix for ADHD. These flowers are intentionally deconstructed through layering, fragmentation, and motion cues to mirror common internal experiences such as emotional heaviness, vigilance, cognitive scattering, and hyperfocus. This project reports documents on the research framework, digital methodology, production process, and analysis of the final works. This project does not attempt to diagnose or clinically address mental-health conditions; instead, it aims to create an accessible visual language that encourages empathy, recognition, and reflection through applied, public-facing artwork.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: Mental health experiences like depression, anxiety, and ADHD are difficult to communicate through words or clinical terminology, which often fails to capture the internal, non-linear, and layered nature of these states. 

  • The Method: Using Procreate, the researcher developed six large-format digital posters that deconstruct symbolic floral imagery—Blue Poppy, Black Rose, Tulip, Aster, Honeysuckle, and Wildflower Mix—through layering, fragmentation, and motion cues to mirror psychological patterns. 

  • Quantitative Finding: The project resulted in 6 large-format digital posters; illustrations were created at a resolution of 300 DPI; final print formats were sized at 18 x 24 inches. 

  • Qualitative Finding: Floral deconstruction visually represents internal experiences such as emotional heaviness and erosion (Blue Poppy), inward rumination (Black Rose), containment and tension (Tulip), multi-point vigilance (Aster), nonlinear momentum (Honeysuckle), and the duality of hyperfocus within scattered attention (Wildflower Mix).

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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