the

art of

"familiars"
kayliegh anderson

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project beginnings
The idea for familars first started as personifying my own
anxiety. While performing creative writing tasks I saw my
own anxiety being personified as a bird.
After discovering this I w as interested in others "anxiety
animals" and conducted research into this, asking those who
also suffer from the mental illness what they imagine their
animal to be.
Using their words and draw ings which they provided I
visualised the behaviours of these animals to then use for
an animation.
This animated short aims to make people aw are of mental
illness, to know that their familiars/demons can be tamed
and that help is out there for those who are suffering.

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armadillo
"I see my anxiety as an armadillo. It tries
to hide by curling into a ball, but I know
its alw ays there. Sometimes it comes
out. Sometimes it show s itself, before
retreating to the back of my mind where
it nags at me. It hides, but it never truly
goes aw ay."

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bird
"I see my anxiety as a bird. It starts off
small. It sits on my shoulder, making me
irritable. It doesnt really w ant to hurt me.
It thinks its protecting me but it becomes
a nuisance and pecks aw ay at me. Over
time it grow s into something unbearable. I
feel it w eighing me down. It uses its claw s
to perch and prey on me, figuring out the
best w ay to change me, to carry me off in
a different direction."

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deer
"When I think about my anxiety, the first
thing that comes to mind is a doe. They're
quiet and gentle, but alw ays on edge and
over aw are, like they're expecting
something to jump out and attack. They
don't have the large antlers to defend
themselves. That's how I feel sometimes not being able to defend myself. I just
freeze - like a deer in the headlights."

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ferret
"If my anxiety w ere an animal I think it
would be a ferret. Ferrets are generally
quite timid and shy but even if they like
you they'll bite you. They dont mean to,
but theyll hurt the people they care
about."

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snake
"My anxiety is best represented by a
snake. There are some days when it's only
a small little thing. There are others when
it grow s into this beast. It coils itself
around me, suffocating and unbearable.
Its bite leaves me bitter tow ards the
world. This cold-blooded creature only
cares for itself, but it pretends it cares
for me."

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spider
"A spider is the best representation of my
anxiety. Its deadly and near impossible to
spot. You know it's out there somewhere
but youre unsure as to where exactly.
You might just step on it or aggravate it.
I could be w alking somewhere feeling
completely fine, the next minute it
scuttles out of nowhere leaving me
confused and irritable, its sole purpose to
paralyse me, to consume me bit by bit."

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armadillo behaviour
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bird behaviour
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deer behaviour
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ferret behaviour
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snake behaviour
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spider behaviour
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