When artist and writer Alistair Gentry first shared his experiences of depression earlier this year it resulted in a flood of private feedback and led a-n to commission a series on artists and mental health for our Resources section. Drawing on the conversations he’s had with artists and arts workers, he argues for more openness about mental illness and wellness in the arts.
Do the pressures of being an artist, with the precariousness of funding, the demands of unrealistic deadlines and the need to be seen to succeed and deliver consistently, make talking about depression and mental health tantamount to career suicide? Artist and writer Alistair Gentry, who has suffered with depression since a teenager, thinks the answer is ‘Yes’ – but that the issue is too important to keep quiet about.
‘Blurred Boundaries’ explores decisive moments when the traditional boundaries of fiction/non-fiction,truth and falsehood Blur’ This quotation from the blurb of Bill Nichols’ book ‘Blurred Boundaries; Questions of Meaning in contemporary Culture’(Indiana University Press 1995) sets the context for ‘An exhibition […]
My fourth short film is taken from a poem I wrote a few years ago while experiencing quite severe depression and would take a lot of long walks across the city, mostly looking at the ground. I initially made a […]
After the realisation, that the 3-D hands would not work with what I had. I started looking into different ways to express what I wish to show within the hands. That being the vulnerability to others, and the influence they could […]
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Last year, I gave a talk about my life at a Meet-up event to an audience of about 80 people. There were many things I was excited to share with the people there, like the time I lived in Japan, […]
On being depressed ,promoting one’s self and pursuing a creative path.
