This Photographer Deals with Anxiety by Creating Surreal Self-Portraits
Monica Lazăr is one of the millions upon millions of people around the world who struggles with an anxiety condition. For her, social anxiety makes it difficult to spend time with other people and causes her to become isolated. Four years ago, however, Lazăr discovered a passion for photography, and her gorgeous self-portraits have changed her life.
“From the beginning, photography was like the air so much-needed in those moments I felt like drowning,” Lazăr writes.
Photography also helped Lazăr find her soul mate, a man who now helps her with her self-portrait projects. He shoots the photos, and she creates the stories in them afterward in Photoshop.
“Every image is an emotion I experienced, a wish, or a fear I’m dealing with,” Lazăr says. “Self-portraits became that other dimension I can live in, and I’m grateful for this.”
“I want my work to speak about courage,” the photographer tells HuffPo. “The courage to make something beautiful out of something painful,” she said.”
You can find more of Lazăr’s work on her website, Facebook, Instagram, and 500px.
Image credits: Photographs by Monica Lazăr and used with permission
