Lucy O’Neill

Anxiety is a common emotional state marked by feelings of unease, worry, or fear, ranging from mild to severe. It can stem from various life events, and for some, becomes a constant presence even without a clear cause.

As an aspiring educator, I noticed many young students struggling with anxiety daily. Being someone who also lives with chronic anxiety, I began exploring how to express these experiences through my ceramic work. For me, anxiety feels like a tightening—my throat closes, my breath shortens, my stomach twists.

Through this body of work, I sought to translate this intense, tangled sensation into a physical form. 'Knots' became my way of visually expressing these emotional and physical states. Using hand-building and slab techniques with alterations, I gave shape to something often invisible. Through clay, the intangible aspects of anxiety are seen, felt, and understood.