The Pressure of the Panopticon

Page 1 of the gray journal

In a panapticon-like world, anxiety builds up in the body like oxygen. Constant surveillance leaves tightness. The skulls represent the fear of death. Frozen in gray and white. Frozen in one's learned helplessness. The many metaphorical deaths a person must live while being trapped beneath the unrelenting pressure of the panapticon.

This work is a translation of constant panic. It is an -arguably- abstract state in the body and mind but here it is translated. Something to look at and move beyond. 

🏛 What is The Panopticon?

Definition: A prison design proposed by Jeremy Bentham (18th c.), where a central watchtower allows guards to observe all inmates, while inmates cannot know if they are being watched.

👤 Michel Foucault

In Discipline and Punish (1975), Foucault used the Panopticon as a metaphor for modern systems of surveillance and power, where everyday people self-police because they may always be under observation.

The Story and Symbolism of the Painting

The left page bursts with blue birds, their sharp beaks and talons around a central skull consumed by red and yellow flames. It is a society trapped in decay and constant threat. The flames symbolize the ever-present and unyielding distrust and fear. The ever-watchful birds mirror the suffocating surveillance.

The dark, aggressive lines mimic the constriction of breath during panic. The clustered birds, sharp and restless, echo this nervous energy caught in a loop. This somatic tension that this painting tries to emulate is throat tightness, shallow breathing, a racing heart.

This painting and art in general offers a pathway to release this pressure. Creating external symbols of anxiety that shifts internal energy from freeze or fight to flow. The act of shaping fears into form enables a subtle recalibration of the nervous system.

Try this prompt: Draw your own birds

From Shadows to Growth

A Visiting is my upcoming graphic novel. The novel traces the journey beyond the fear captured in this painting, a path towards patience and understanding. Discover previews and support the making of this graphic novel via kickstarter and or patreon. Let the story guide you from pressure toward peace.

Explore more on art’s power to ease anxiety with this related YouTube video. For deeper practice, you can contact me for online or in person workshops.

Start Your Journey

Download The Unspoken Sketch to sketch your way to calm. Support A Visiting on Kickstarter or explore more on YouTube. Contact me for workshops to deepen your practice.

Get Free Booklet Support on Kickstarter

GET the FREE booklet on how to hold anxiety’s shape?

We’ve all been there, racing thoughts at night, pressure, and worries. But here’s the truth: you don’t have to stay stuck in that place.

This booklet is a gentle guide, filled with exercises and practices that show you how to name your anxiety, shape it, and finally hold it in your hands, instead of letting it hold you.

Why is it special? Because it’s real. It’s practical. And it comes from a place of lived experience.

And the best part? It’s free. Because healing tools should be for everyone. Don’t wait another day, get your copy now and start your journey from pressure to peace.

Even one small sketch can loosen anxiety’s grip. Begin with a single line, a simple shape. Begin now.