albaxsais

KAWAII DRUGS

Lacrimal, 2025

KAWAII DRUGS – Finding a wholesome approah to healing

KAWAII DRUGS is a visual art project exploring the connections between emotional trauma, chronic illness, and the medicalization of life in Western societies. Drawing from my own experience with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that somatized into chronic physical illness, I embark on a journey of self-discovery where I connect the dots between emotional and physical expressions with an improvement on my symptoms.

My body, saturated with pills, creams, and eye drops at a pretty early age, inspired me to create a contemporary still life: a visual representation of our dependence on legal drugs. I began to ask myself: What would it mean to inhabit my body without this pharmacopoeia? Are there other ways to heal that truly integrate the body, mind, and emotion?

More than 78% of people diagnosed with autoimmune diseases are women. A statistic that genetics alone cannot explain. This project also engages with a feminist reflection on how women are taught to repress emotions, desires, and needs in order to care for others. That emotional disconnection comes at a price: somatization. Because if we don’t listen to the body, it will scream until it is heard.

Disclaimer: Generative Adobe Illustrator AI has been used in this artwork.

EXPOSITION at IRMÃ FEIA, Salão de Inverno, Lisbon December 2025

KAWAII DRUGS under Comission

Hipérico, 2026