VISUAL WORKS / CONTEMPORARY ART / PHOTO SERIES
ESCAPISM
/ ABOUT THE PROJECT
ESCAPISM is a contemporary photo series by multidisciplinary artist, Lindokuhle Bathandwa Busakwe, who is widley known as LDK_TheNoble. The photo series interrogates the relationship between escapism, depression, and substance abuse. It is also a documented recollection of the artist's own experiences with instances that might have kept him in cycles of escapism and depression. The project was created with the aim of raising awareness on mental health challenges we face in society, espicially as men. It is also aimed at encouraging people to seek out help from mental health professionals and institutions/organisations that provide guidance and relief for such challenges, instead of resorting to escapism. / CREDITS
Editor/Retoucher: Lindokuhle Bathandwa Busakwe
BATHROOM BREAKS
"All I heard was heavy breathing for a while, mixed with what sounded like gibberish. Not quite content that she had given up her feeble attempts at suicide, I still stayed on the phone. Struggling to get any sleep of my own, it started weighing heavily on me. How I was always present for everybody else, but only afforded myself these short-lived bathroom breaks."
MESSAGES IN THE BOTTLE
“I stuck to a shabby vegan diet for months. The smell of blood would always bring me flashbacks of a warm corpse lying in a shallow pool of blood. In a half-drunken state one day, sick off plant-based patties meant to taste like meat, I decided to cook beef. When the pungent stench hit me, I realized what kind of state that boy must've been in when he decided to do what he did.”
...IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER
"On a random evening, he drunk dialed me. Talking about how he missed my cooking, asking if I was coming home any time soon. I always felt like spring recess was too short for any travels, so I passed the opportunity. I couldn't make it home in time or he couldn't make a full recovery on time. I can't tell you which is which, only that I couldn't listen to 'Rope//rosegold' for months."
KINTSUGI