The Mother Shelf, Julia by mes
A vertically oriented stylized illustration with a gold-patterned picture frame shows an interconnected orange human figure and a serpent against a warm yellow background. A large dark green snake with triangular markings emerges from the person’s mouth, and together they form a shelf-like structure, the mother shelf. Purple, striped worms spill out of several cans stored within this shelf shape. Three of the four cans are labeled with simple illustrations: a dollar bill, an apple, and a red cross. In the lower right corner, a simplified blue child figure stands holding a water pistol in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other.
Title: The Mother Shelf
Artist: Julia by mes
Date: 2025
Medium/Materials: Alcohol and acrylic markers, and fineliner on paper
Dimensions: 61 cm x 45.7 cm
Form/Genre: Drawing
Key Terms/Subject/Tags: Dissociative Identity Disorder; PTSD; Plurality/Parts
Artist Statement:
Julia by mes is an artist who, through her work, tells stories of identities, trauma, and healing from inside the experience itself.
Julia by mes lives with dissociative identity disorder (DID), and her practice is shaped by that embodied reality. Through what she calls post-traumatic pop art, she uses bright colour, intuitive linework, and layered imagery to explore fragmentation, multiplicity, and adaptation. At first glance, the work may appear playful or even childlike. Beneath the surface, it carries the weight of memory, survival, and the complexity of living in a mind that is not singular.
In clinical discourse, dissociation is often reduced to diagnosis, symptom lists, or case studies. Her work resists that reduction. It reclaims the patient narrative by shifting authority from observation to lived experience. The flowing lines and interconnected forms in her drawings represent internal dialogue, emotional threads, and the invisible structures that hold a fragmented self together. What might be labelled pathology becomes, in her visual language, creativity, resilience, and response.
By centring lived knowledge, Julia by mes engages directly with Reclaiming the Patient Narrative and Embodied States. She does not illustrate illness; she bears witness to embodied differences. The work asks viewers to consider how identities are shaped not only by systems of care but by the inner strategies that allow survival.
If the work creates space for reflection, for recognition rather than explanation, then it has done its work.
Cultural Context / Story Behind the Work:
Created in response to Julia by mes’ lived experience of dissociative identity disorder (DID), reflecting on how child parts experience the past in the present
Rights for this Image:
This digital image is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. You are free to share it for non-commercial purposes, as long as you credit the artist.
Learn More:
Instagram: @juliabymes