Project takes STHS grad on journey through family's experience with mental illness

There are many different mediums artists use for their work: clay, paint, pencil, metal and stone just to name a few. For an art project at U.C. Santa Cruz, South Tahoe High grad Daniel Kagan used something many wouldn't have thought of, his brother's mental health records.

Kagan, who graduated from STHS in 2008 and UCSC in 2013, had a project his senior year in college that took him on a journey he didn't expect. The digital media arts student had a two-fold goal when creating the large project. He wanted to focus on a story he could tell, one that he had a personal connection with, as well as satisfying his teacher's assignment.

The project that evolved from this process addressed a social theme, his family structure, mental illness and how institutions and individuals interact. "It made sense for me to focus on the story of my family," said Kagen.

Daniel's story started when he was nine and his mother adopted one-year-old Jayson, a boy born to drug addicted parents (crack and methamphetamine) and who had been removed from that home by Child Protective Services. He came to live with Daniel and his mother Cherie Kagen. Jayson's head was flat in back, what Daniel says was from the young infant always being on his back, and he came to the Kagen home with a lot of issues.

Jayson's plethora of diagnosis created turmoil in the household, things Daniel always blamed on the adopted brother. Jayson at one time or another was diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, schizophrenia, bi-polar, psychosis, borderline personality disorder and radical attachment disorder.

As Daniel developed his project he also uncovered a lot of conflict inside himself and it became personal therapy. Through his art, he worked through issues and the experiences surrounding his brother and his difficulties.

"The art project came on the heels of my mother’s unsuccessful attempt to have my brother (who is now 18) live at home," said Daniel. "I was coming off the pain and I knew I needed to work through these issues and experiences surrounding my brother and his difficulties."

He went through 15 years of Jayson's medical files, digitalized them and then went into the dark room at UCSc and combined black and white photography with the pieces of files.

"Clinical prognosis isn’t who Jayson is," said Daniel. "I wanted to use that identity as a stepping stool to show more of his true identity."

He created a larger than life "photo" of Jayson, and another of his mother and Jayson hugging, all made of the digitalized files. (as shown in this story)

Art has always played a big part in Daniel's life. He did theater and performance art while growing up and then moved to visual arts. He taught himself to draw along the way. Once he made it to college, Daniel focused on digital media and darkroom, and has now been able to leverage those skills into a career in graphic design.

The 26-year-old Kagen is now living in Los Angeles with his girlfriend of three years, and Jayson is once again living with Cherie in South Lake Tahoe.

"For me, one of the biggest and most important things I learned in this process is that I learned to forgive Jayson," said Daniel. "I had some very real emotional pain that I was holding onto and it affected my life, and my family’s life. I carried anger with me and assigned blame, and this project helped me get a larger perspective."

"From the act of laying out a story from start to finish it is now difficult to assign blame," added Daniel. "It is natural to feel angry, but I learned to resolve these feelings to be more present, and move past my hangups in order to realize whats really important, be present and engaged with my family every day."