“Wishful Thinking” 2024 Mixed Media Mobile - $1000

Another project started around the same time as “Bundle of Nerves”. As I was following image after image into an internet wormhole, I got to thinking that I was quite distracted that day. Not knowing where to begin or, in this case, having too many ideas to know which to begin with is not uncommon for someone with moderate to severe ADHD. My wormhole took a tangent, then, and I began wondering what causes ADHD and what that looks like. I came across the sentence, “ADHD was the first disorder found to be the result of a deficiency of a specific neurotransmitter — in this case, norepinephrine.” Immediately, I wanted to know what norepinephrine looked like. I found a number of molecular diagrams, which I used to create around 100 molecular models. I decided I wanted to create a mobile with an abundance of these deficient molecules, circulating around my head, and playfully called it “Wishful Thinking.” The catch was that I was struggling with the scale and function of these particles being transmitted into the synapse of the neuron, and couldn’t figure out how to display the molecules in a way that would represent the process and that would be visually appealing. I imagined building a giant axon (see “It’s in My Brain” post), and a synaptic cleft, and was assisted in visualizing the mechanics by a professor friend of mine, who introduced me to the concept of exocytosis via synaptic vesicles. This may be a bit too in the weeds for some of you, but it’s a fascinating process. Imagine bubbles filles with neurotransmitters. Yeah. That’s where I ended up. :)