Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Audrey Bergan.
Hi Lindsey Audrey, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My current project; “Paper Dolls; Atypically Designed Personalities Through the Decades” is a mixed media collage collection sharing my journey of masking, misunderstandings and misdiagnosis through the last 44 years of my life. I was officially diagnosed AuDhd in September of 2024 after going through another major breakdown (which turns out that all of my breakdowns were really just my succumbing to severe burnout).
I am very vocal about this reality as I had been on a journey for answers the majority my life.
My dad sort of vacated my life when I was about 11 years old, with no explanation. I would spend the next 26 years attempting to understand it and to find him. My mother worked hard to support and protect me, but as I went through the phases of adolescence, my neurodivergent traits became more clinical. We didn’t have the knowledge of ADHD/Autism in girls/women then as we do now. Despite having the drive, dedication, support and talent to create a very solid life for myself, all if the unrecognized pieces would be my downfall, and constant. I would be getting glimpses of answers and then my health insurance would stop covering appointments or drop completely.
Through multiple misdiagnosis and unfit medication trials, I made many mistakes that could have been avoided.
It wasn’t until I became a mother that i started really understanding myself and the like patterns in my child.
During COVID, everyone’s lives came to a stop. I was already trying to sort out finding a new career, navigating a pending divorce and seeking signs for the next phase of my life. When I began homeschooling my child, it was clear as crystal that we had neurodivergent traits.
When we relocated from Minneapolis to Hibbing, during the pandemic, we struggled to adjust, but found our way.
I started working PT at an arts center and was reminded where my passion lies. COVID helped me find the ideal work and life balance that I thrived on.
After graduating with my BA in Psychology early 2024, I was offered a job in my field working in mental health. Considering a FT job with complex hours and a routine schedule scared the hell out of me. I was also homeschooling my child still, so it quickly became obvious there was no way to make the traditional job work for us anymore. Having the income and benefits would be worth it, but I knew I would just burn out and spiral again, very quickly. So, I made the difficult choice to start completely freelancing in May of 2024. It felt impulsive but it was a risk I needed to take in order to find the right direction to continue moving forward with my healing.
I started working freelance as a community connector, social media creator and for hire photographer. It was going well, but I still felt irresponsible somehow. So, that fall, I started grad school in library sciences. When it came time to homeschool, finish my contracted film festival gig and keeping up with the heavy grad school workload, I crashed again, hard.
At that time, I found a provider that listened to my entire story and properly diagnosed me. I have been thriving since. I left the grad program and finished my work on the film festival. Through the festival, I was reminded of my passion for film work. The team with UMFO connected me to a few people and then I started working in the Iron Range film industry.
The rest is basically getting to start over again with the second half of my life, living my teenage dreams of working as a professional artist and filmmaker. The wildest part is that I left my hometown, on many occasions, seeking this career and falling time and time again. It took all of those life lessons, battles and love to bring me home again where those possibilities were finally available to me at the right time. I was finally capable of accepting that I deserve it. Sometimes I still live with imposter syndrome and the constant feeling of guilt. It is just the self doubt creeping i no though. I am invisibly disabled and I have to be allowed to wear that proud and discuss it openly for others to understand what that means. It is a daily challenge, but it is my goal to create awareness, acceptance and accommodating means wherever possible. This isn’t for me but for anyone that is filled with doubt and shame in this world for being atypical to society.
Now, I finally get to tell my story through a debut visual art collection made possible by a grant from Arrowhead Regional Arts Council. I have almost literally been preparing for this my entire life.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My road has been a constant shift of smooth pavement, rocky terrain, grassy fields, under construction crews, out of service signs, long and short distance road trips with each and everything possible in between.
Despite the struggles, I have been very fortunate and privileged to also have very positive and unique experiences. They all came with their own sacrifices and major mistakes though.
I mentioned some of the significant struggles in the previous question, but my ‘Paper Dolls’ project is going to tell the journey thoroughly in three phases.
The mixed media collage collection will be phase one, telling the story through specific symptoms of ADHD/Autism that are commonly overlooked, misunderstood and/or misdiagnosed.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am somewhat of a wild card and tinkerer. The reason I started making visual art was because I was a bored, only child and I would use found objects, traditional tools and whatever really was just around that could entertain or calm my busy brain. I always needed music, movies or television on in the background. I would lose myself in sketchpads, books, journaling or role playing. I loved to create a challenge, solve a mystery, play games or even start a business, like having yard sales at age 5. I even had a phase where I was buying bulk candy and coloring in old lottery tickets to sell the kids in my apartment complexes at age 10.
I was a performer most of my youth. It was the one way for me to feel like a human. Having someone else write words for me to say and become a character was easier than being myself. I was obsessed with music and movies. That had to be what I could do because becoming a visual artist would be even more impossible it seemed. So, I went for it until it sort of broke my heart. I have always created visually or through writing, but the thrill of being on a stage or performing for a camera really drove me to stay active socially and financially.
I’ve been a lead singer in a band, a wholesale department head, a noodle sorter, an office manager, an art center curator and more. I recently produced my first independent film this past winter and have worked on 5 feature films over the past year.
As an AuDhder, I have basically explored everything that my giant heart and bee brain imagined possible. This always looked like indecision and manic dreams to outsiders. For me, it was just what felt right at the time and now I have a wide variety of skills and talents to pull from, making many options possible and being a bank of knowledge and resources.
My artwork blends together, so I consider myself a mixed media artist. I have always needed textures in my work that goes beyond a sketchbook. My visual pieces are very much multilayered collages with deep stories within. I make mini music video reels to clear my head. I dance like nobody is watching and allow myself to feel the energy of the world around me.
The thing that differs me is my empathetic approach to life and the community around me. I survive in a constant state of wonder with a strong sense of justice and urge to provide answers for others who may be seeking it.
While trying to figure out my own brain and existence, I have connected and collected with a vast variety of people, places and knowledge. I have a B.A. in psychology, but my interest and personal lived experiences has made me more of a master in the field. I often connect with people in a way that I cannot always explain.
I use my art to heal myself but to also reach anyone else that may need the content for their own healing or curiosity.
The reason I decided against becoming a professional in the mental health field is because I cannot in good faith do the work I would like to do if there is a systemic financial barrier between me and the person seeking care.
Through my artistic platforms, I can reach anyone that can find me, without asking for a fee first.
All platforms of art have saved my life on dozens of accounts. Having the ability to create is a gift
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
While my hometown and current residence is Hibbing, Minneapolis is my favorite city in the entire world. I have travelled around the far and wide. I have lived in Los Angeles and New York but Minneapolis has always been where I want to call home. It is the perfect size and blend of arts and culture. With the recent events of “operation metro surge”, the world saw how strong the community is.
Hibbing is a special village that has great potential but the world keeps forgetting us. I always dreamt to become well known enough to continue seeding its growth in an alternative respect. Being able to create art here and to be a part of a newly thriving industry, is very promising.
I want to see all communities stand strong with pride here. We should all be comfortable calling it home, not just the select few.
Minnesota has always been a safe haven for people of all spectrums. I am grateful to call it my home.
We still have a lot of division here and I aim to continue fighting for positive change and peaceful human connection with every intention I put forward and human I interact with.
Pricing:
- Custom Art from $25 and up
- Photographer/Videographer – $100 and up
- Art and Photo Prints from $5 and up
- For hire film crew positions
- Social Media & Marketing tools priced per project
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/audrenalin.arts
- Instagram: @lindsey.audrey.me or @audrenalin.arthaus
- Facebook: Audrenalin Arts
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lindsey-audrey-artisticlens
- Youtube: @audrenalinarthaus
