I’ve been meaning to make a post about the work of Polish artist and graphic designer Dawid Planeta for ages, but, funnily (?) enough, my depression has prevented me from doing so.
My mood is one of the reasons why this blog was cold and quiet for so damn long – I didn’t have the strength to blog. I didn’t have the strength to share with you the fucking brilliant things I would sometimes encounter, including the art of Planeta.
But today, things are a bit better, I’m manic rather than depressed and it’s a better place for me to be because I feel I can manage life more effectively in this state. Today I can appreciate the work of Planeta and share my appreciation with you.
Through his greyscale illustrations of a tiny person facing enormous beasts with gloving eyes, this young artist (he’s a 90’s kid) has encouraged me to look at my depression from a whole new perspective. The beasts with their glowing eyes are there to provide a light in the darkness, a guide through the wilds of mental illness.
A few months ago I wrote a song called Black Dog, thinking my depression couldn’t be described as anything else but a huge black hound. But Planeta has expanded my view, and I feel I want to explore my own experience by writing about a whole array of wild creatures.
“Depression—it’s not easy to deal with, but when you try, you can stop thinking about it as a weakness and turn it into something brilliant. That’s what I aim to accomplish with my art. Things I’m trying to depict are dark, mysterious and frightening, but if you look closely, you will find excitement, passion and joy. Just open your mind and see.”
With the title Mini People In The Jungle this hugely important work is, Planeta explains:
“….a story of a man descending into darkness and chaos in search of himself.”
Off all the beasts here, I feel most in-tune with the owl and the whale, so I’m going to go on a journey of my own, to explore my depression in conjunction with these two magnificent creatures.
I’d be interested to know which animal, if any, you find yourself connected with.
Celebrating the strange and the shadowy, the damned and unseen 