Who we are & why we are

Welcome to the gallery site of Broken Light Collective. We are artists of all levels and abilities who are affected by mental illness. We create and we share our work for the therapeutic benefits to us, as well as others who may be struggling and feeling scared and alone. Together we can move from disconnected to collective.

Please say hello to first-time contributor Mike Cullen, a photographer based in Brooklyn, NY, who specializes in abstract and impressionistic landscapes. After a few decades of working in the photo industry, Mike decided it was finally time to move from the business and editing side over to the creative. He’s been working on an extensive series of images that share some common stylistic threads: they’re blurry, there are no people, the subject matter is kept at some distance, and yet the colors are fairly vibrant. It wasn’t until much later (and many photographs) that he was diagnosed with depression. After his diagnosis, when he looked back on his work, he realized that these images were a manifestation of the illness. The out-of-focus, lonely, people-less world he had been photographing wasn’t in the park down the street. It was in him.

About this photo: “The two images above are called, “Gods and Monsters” (the darker one) and “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”. These images were shot earlier in 2014 using a panoramic pinhole camera onto 35mm film, then extensively tinkered with in Photoshop. I find that it’s not until I have a chance to closely examine and work on the images on my desktop that I can get a sense of what my subconscious is telling me; these two seem to bookend each other with dark and light, yet still offer a distorted take on reality.

Find more from Mike at his website.

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We need to raise $5k in August to get up and running as a non-profit! Please help!

**Visit Broken Light’s main gallery here. Currently accepting submissions.

*Facebook & Twitter @BrokenLighCo & @DanielleHark. Follow for e-mail notifications.


6 responses to “Gods and Monsters”

  1. themanofletters Avatar

    Reblogged this on The Man of Letters and commented:
    Love this…

    Liked by 1 person

  2. writeejit Avatar
    writeejit

    Fascinating images. Well done!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Paula Jennings Avatar

    such interesting photos. I also suffer with major depression and general anxiety disorder and find creating and photo work very helpful in keeping it at bay as best as possible.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Karen Robinson Avatar

    I very much like your work, imaginative and interesting. Wish you well in your future endeavours with this creative field of work…Karen

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Thomas Slatin Avatar

    Wow! Absolutely brilliant work!

    Liked by 1 person

  6. bluebrightly Avatar

    I like them very much. Obviously all your experience has served you well, and you’re able to go beyond it at the same time.

    Liked by 2 people

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