Meet Kashira Edghill

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kashira Edghill. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kashira below.

Kashira, we are so deeply grateful to you for opening up about your journey with mental health in the hops that it can help someone who might be going through something similar. Can you talk to us about your mental health journey and how you overcame or persisted despite any issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

I have used my struggles with depression and anxiety as fuel for my work. Channeling or translating those emotions and concepts into visceral sensations . To give them their proper recognition so they can be processed and released. I also have transformed my generally escapist attitude towards life into an abstract yet functionally beneficial world for myself.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am an artist coming from the position of the therapist. I see Art as a way to excrete the negative as well as pay homage to a positive in one’s emotions and thinking. I do many forms of art, including music, sculpture, painting, digital art, so I would say The only thing that makes me “special “would be the attitude I take towards each medium. I try to honor the flow of each medium as well as challenge. It’s traditional parameters. I love the theme of showing the beautiful within the ugly. And the ugly within the beautiful. I heard from someone that I respect very much the phrase, comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. And I hold to that perspective.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

That is a difficult question. One that requires bringing consciousness to something that might do well to be left alone. But I would say my lack of willingness to compromise. My ability to work act or create off the cuff or in the moment. And my desire to create something both palatable and yet pushing the boundary.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

I think it’s important to lean on or into the parts of you that make you eccentric rather than centered or well balanced. I believe the concept of being well balanced is 10th amount to miss. If that happens to come naturally to you, most likely you’re missing something that the rest of us would call Human or mistake prone . The eccentricities are what make you unique and or what you view a valuable perspective to contribute to society. Whether you’re doing that through Art, or cooking, or through the way, you deal with customers in a customer service job. The authenticity over a good or normal performance is always what people remember and value. So I guess the question should probably be rephrased. Would you rather make an impact or skate by leaving as little impact as possible on this earth. Both are admirable goals, but I tend to lean towards leaving an impact no matter how small. Planting a seed, regardless of whether or not you get to see it bloom to its fruition. Not weird for weird sake, but real for the sake of making a real connection.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @UIAEO_art
• Other: [email protected]