Thinking Inside and Outside the Box - Page 7

"Oval Box", 2016 Jan Griffiths.

Detail (Oval box open with feather, verse, dull pebble and paper flowers).

"Round Box", 2016 Jan Griffiths

Detail (open Round Box with faux razor blade and tablets)

"Rectangular Box", 2016 Jan Griffiths

Detail (open "Rectangular Box" with figure with pins, mobile phone and note. The note reads:
"Electro-Sensitivity is a very real physical condition for an estimated 2 million people in the UK.
It comes under Environmental Health. 
About 2 years ago there was a sudden increase in people wanting to see their GP. has anyone asked the question why?
A cumulative effect of more people having WIFI in their homes. Despite the BMA saying radiation emitted from computers, TVs, iPads, mobile phones etc is not safe.
IT IS NOT SAFE.
Diabetes is a physical condition but not everyone has it. That does not mean it does not exist.").

Memory Box Statement

"Oval Box:

This box is about my experience of bouts of clinical depression. 

Black denotes the darkness of mood and its ability to incapacitate my thoughts and speech, its debilitating effect on my physical body.

The blue dot on the lid represents the times when I am relatively well between bouts of depression.

The verse inside is one my late partner copied for me and enclosed in a beautiful card he gave me to cheer me up and show me he loved me.

A white feather was on my late partner's order  of service.

The dull stone only to denote depression and the blue flowers denote the beauty of laughter I would experience between bouts of depression.  

Rectangular Box:

Fear and panic come about in a person who has the physical condition of Electro-Sensitivity when they inadvertently find themselves in a building with WIFI.

When people site close to a sufferer of the condition  and use a smart phone it can cause the sufferer to experience headaches or dizziness.  Because it is a minority who suffer with Electro-Sensitivity the majority can think the sufferer is mad or an alien or their symptoms are "All in the mind".

There are about 20,000 small studies which prove a link between artificial electro-magnetic radiation and various physical conditions. In other countries - Sweden for example, ES is recognised as a disability and treated accordingly.

Adjustments made in the workplace, wired connections for internet access instead of WIFI. WIFI has been banned in schools in certain countries. 

(The Self Harm) Round Box: 

The word "silent" on the box denotes the fact that for me when I took an overdose  or cut myself - it was like a silent scream. It always made me feel better on a certain level. 

The emotion words, Anger and Hate indicate that i had unexpressed anger within me and combine that with hate for myself was a lethal mixture which produced destructive actions. The silver foil covered shape inside the box is a copy of a Stanley knife blade. I wanted to use a real one but it was deemed inappropriate in the art room. 

I do not remember feeling pain when I cut myself first shock and relief." Transcribed from a handwritten statement. 

Jan Griffiths, December 2016.