CLARISSE CASALINO is a registered psychiatric nurse, published writer, and artist living in Chicago, IL. Clarisse graduated New York University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. As a psychiatric nurse and a previous psychiatric patient, Clarisse finds herself in a particularly fantastic position to show the sane insanity. Clarisse can be summed up by the Shakespearean quote, “Dispute not with her,—she is lunatic." Clarisse strives to shed light on the profound and often misunderstood emotions that shape the inner worlds of those suffering from mental illness. Through her collages, she aims to offer a space to challenge our perceptions and encourage us to question our assumptions about those we deem “crazy.” Her work implies intimacies gone awry, longing, and often an intense misreading of the human experience. There is an underlying interest in healing found in each piece. You will see her path through medications on each pill bottle label, many of which come from her own prescriptions. The pieces foreshadow an uneasy thought that each of us face at some juncture in our lives that pain that is self-inflicted is perhaps the most lethal malady of all.