01 Everyone Loves a Sad Girl 

Created under instruction from Luiza Dale and Herdimas Anggara at Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts 

In our effort to normalize mental illness, society has reached a point where suffering has become a hot commodity. Time and again, we’ve seen that the world romanticizes the “sad girl,” a figure draped in melancholy, chaos, and allure. Self-destructive behaviors have been rebranded as edgy quirks, turning pain into a performance. As women, have we unconsciously nurtured our wounds because they’ve become desirable? What would it mean to let go of the idealization of suffering? Are we trapped in a cycle where pain defines us, even destroys us? Can we reframe how we see ourselves, not through the lens of sadness, but through healing and strength? And perhaps the hardest question of all: do we cling to our sadness because, in some way, it feels like home?