£5.00
100 in stock
By David Richardson
ISBN: 978-1-905610-65-5
Published: 2006
Pages: 34
Key Themes: art, schizophrenia, manic depression, bi-polar disorder, mental health services
Description
This is a concise book, that packs a punch, and will bring a smile to your face. The book commences with a small photo gallery of people on the mental health circuit in Cambridge UK, all of whom have inspired the writing of this book.
The bulk of the book includes 33 paintings and drawings (amounting to 7 years work), depicting mind states, such as schizophrenia, manic depression and synasthesia, including psychiatric experiences and encounters with some blue beings!
The dialogue alongside the paintings is a 7 day blog, giving an example of the internal dialogue I hear when manic, often ridiculous, and sometimes sinister.
The end of the book consists of a short discourse on Human Squalor, that philosophically dissects suffering, and concludes that when all hope is gone, one can find some happiness, in the complete abandonment of reality. David Richardson
About the Author
I started my working life as a tree surgeon, this I did for 8 years. Until one cold February morning I fell 50 foot from a tree. Resultantly, I developed and fear of heights and unusually water (the sea). I lost my job, and my manic depression reared its ugly head. However after a few years I found my way into science, achieving a first class honours in Biology at Plymouth University. Following this I entered into PhD research at St. Johns College, Cambridge University. Two and a half years into this I developed mania; initially I was affected by believing I could see into the future, followed by instructions from God, which unwittingly I acted on, being in such an elated state. A hospitalisation followed. I never returned to my PhD. Since then I’ve had two sons but I live on my own after a divorce – mental illness was to blame, as my wife has schizophrenia. Currently I am trying to avoid becoming Elvis, and I avoid walking under houses and buildings as I have had a premonition that a roof tile will fall on my head and kill me….However, I see my two sons every day and they are a great inspiration to me, I love the way they think…..
Book Extract
“Looking into the thousand glassy eyes of a monkey made mad by standing, there is no ‘honest’ eye among them, Special Theory suggests that. Their tongues are full of complex treachery, their thoughts are unanchored windows with no frame of reference, they are lost islands of the lowest entropy in the universe, telling themselves lies and believing it”.
“Like a dance stopped in mid career, love cut short, or a flower with its head unluckily snapped off, human squalor is no sherry party. To keep the dead completely dead, to keep the bedroom exactly as the departed left it, ten bottles of sherry will not suffice. Did Christ know how much He took away with Him when he left? In our paper mind all reality is in ruins. But then of course we know perfectly well He can not be used as a road, for all those approaching Him this way will not be approaching Him at all. World with out end, is no more than a chuckle in the darkness. Cancer, cancer, cancer cries the universe, pour a cup of tea over your head, shout cancer and die.
It is incredible how much happiness, even how much gaiety we have after all hope is gone……”
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.