Emma Darrouzet

“Look on the bright side”, “Time heals all wounds”, “You wear such bright colours, you can’t be depressed” are all well-intentioned phrases, but to people living with anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) they can be infuriating, frustrating and insensitive.

Artist, mum, teacher and all-round bundle of joy - Emma Darrouzet lives with ADHD, generalised anxiety disorder and complex PTSD and will often turn ‘throw away’ phrases into the titles of her artworks – channeling the energy, frustration and misunderstanding into vibrant, energetic strokes of neon pinks, green, yellows and more.

“The way I paint is super cathartic and intuitive. When I’m painting I am actually painting how I feel. Normally when I’m painting I have gone through something so I put that on the canvas or it will usually be off the back of someone saying “Oh, you don’t look anxious,” or, “You wear such bright colours, you can’t be depressed,” and I put all of that into the canvas and I really feel like that energy comes through and speaks to people.”

“Because of my own neurodivergence and because of my mental health struggles myself, I can get quite black and white and I remember thinking that’s not helping me, it’s not helpful, please stop saying that. The artwork titles come from what is in my brain when I’m processing those sort of feelings – they are satirical and funny but also representing the turmoil and that moment in my life.”

“I did have someone say, come bushwalking with me, come hiking with me it will really help, and I do enjoy bushwalking, but that particular day I was in the middle of a three-day panic attack, I was feeling short of breath, dizzy, and my blood pressure was low. I did go hiking but ended up passing out halfway up the mountain and had to get rescued.

I came back from that experience, and I was like I’m going to paint Bushwalking fixes anxiety. It literally started from there - the titles are satirical and funny but it does represent a particular time of turmoil and reflects what is going on in my life at the time. Two things can be true at the same time, you may appear OK on the outside but suffering on the inside.”

Bushwalking fixes anxiety, Emma Darrouzet

Emma faced a particularly challenging period of mental health three years ago, leading her to take a break from painting. She describes this period as a tumultuous journey through her own mental health struggles.

“Mental illness doesn’t have a specific appearance. It looks like me.”

“It wasn’t until about a year ago that everything came crashing down, and I began intensive therapy. Mental illness doesn’t have a visible face; it just looks like an everyday person walking next to you.”

Two years ago my husband said, ‘why don’t you start painting that stuff, those feelings’ I was very reluctant and didn’t feel creative, I didn’t want to paint anymore but he encouraged me to just try it and it literally just fell out of me.”

Emma Darrouzet (supplied)

And Emma has not stopped since. Recently painting over 120 small works to fundraise for the Black Dog Institute whilst preparing for a solo exhibition, raising three children and working full time whilst being a very active advocate for mental health via her social channels.

“Raising awareness and advocating for the fact mental illness is still an illness, it’s still a medical condition. You wouldn’t say to someone who has diabetes just don’t take your insulin and drink your turmeric tea - it’s not going to work.  Maybe drinking the tea and going for a walk is complementary and it may help, but it’s not going to make it go away or solve the problem and I think that’s the main message I want to get across.

“That’s what was so important about Recovered Futures, everyone who was there in the room understood this idea, that’s what makes it so comfortable and easy to understand – everyone was dressed up but you have people in the room who have been through horrendous trauma and PTSD – it’s an amazing space for people to truly feel themselves.”

Emma is exhibiting with Recovered Futures for the second time in 2024 with her two vibrant works, Sounds a bit unhinged and Can’t you just pretend to be normal.

Can't you just pretend to be normal, Emma Darrouzet