Meet Minnie Lucas | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Minnie Lucas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Minnie, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
Growing up my father was verbally, emotionally, and psychologically abusive. This past year I have been creating art about the trauma he has caused. I created these projects not only to help help me but to help others who have been in similar situations. I know a lot of people are not comfortable talking about their trauma and that’s okay. That’s why I decided to talk about it. I want to help others who have been in similar situations.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I create art because it helps me therapeutically. This past year I have been creating multiple series about my mental health. I created a series I call Self. I photographed self-portraits and double exposed different patterns and objects that are related to nature. After I had them printed I dyed them green. Nature and green both represent freedom to me. I’m finally free from my father’s control and abuse. At the beginning of the year I started a series called My Father’s Words. I wrote down everything my father has said that’s affected me. I photographed it and double exposed it over my face. I wanted to show anxiety, anger, sadness, and frustration. This is how I have felt in the past and how I feel when I think of these stories. This series helped me process my emotions and pain.
Over the summer I started a collage series about my stress dreams. These stress dreams happen when I’m feeling very stressed out or anxious. Sometimes they’re a PTSD dream about childhood trauma or just a really bazaar dream. This series has been very therapeutic for me and helped me realize that I had PTSD.
I’m currently working on another collage series about feminism. I wanted to create art about gender roles and pressures that women experience. I’m using vintage magazines for this series. When creating art that is about my mental health it can be very heavy and sometimes can trigger my PTSD. I try to create art that’s less heavy.
No it hasn’t always been easy. For a long time I’ve been wanting to create art about my past trauma and my father. I was always afraid of how my family would react. Originally the series My Father’s Words wasn’t going to be a project that I wasn’t going to go public with. I later decided to go public with it because I know a lot of people are not comfortable talking about childhood trauma and that’s okay. I want people to know that they’re not alone and their feelings are valid.
I’m excited to see where I will go next with my art and career. I am currently working on a piece where I transferred my childhood photos on plates and then broke them. I arranged them as a mosaic with my childhood jewelry. I’m going to fill water balloons with dyes of my childhood colors and throw them at the piece. I wanted to create a piece about all the anger and pain I currently have.
I have a lot of project ideas that I hope to create by next year. I’m also currently working on a book that will feature all the series I created about my mental health and my father.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There’s a lot of great things to do in Columbus and there’s just about everything for everyone. One of my hobbies is collecting records. There’s lots of great record stores in the city. I still haven’t explored all of them. The ones I’ve been to are Spoonful Records, Used Kids Records, and Rich Street Records. All three are great places to find music from different artists and genres and are run by amazing people. A Columbus event I enjoy going to is Franklinton Friday. It happens the second Friday of every month in Franklinton. There’s live music, gallery openings, open studios, and local artists selling in the Friendship Flea. It’s a great event to go to help support local artists. Restaurants I enjoy going to are Xi Xia Chinese Cuisine, HangOverEasy, Pierogi Mountain, Lavash Cafe, Tensuke Express, and Yellow Brick Pizza. There is also Belle’s Bread in the Japan Marketplace in Upper Arlington. Which is a French inspired Japanese Bakery.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have an amazing group of friends. They have all been very supportive and have helped me through some tough times. I don’t think I would have the confidence to do half the stuff I do without them. My therapist has also been encouraging me to create art about my mental health and feelings towards my father. Which has helped a lot with me processing my feelings and emotions. I have become more confident since I started doing therapy. Which has helped me a lot as an artist.

Website: minnielucas.com

Instagram: @minnielucasphotography

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/minnie-lucas-397a22186/

Facebook: @minnielucasphotography

Image Credits
Minnie Lucas