Blog - Survivor Arts
My Soul is a Search Engine
November 4, 2019 - by Dolly SenMY SOUL IS A SEARCH ENGINE by Dolly Sen I make film, I make art, I make books, and I make trouble. One way I employ two of those things – the art & trouble-making – is by disrupting systems that produce ‘copy and paste’ identities/thoughts/perceptions/life/death, as a Trojan horse dressed ...
Extended thoughts about the ‘Joker’ while waiting for the Tesco Delivery Man
October 31, 2019 - by Liz BentleyWe all have a ‘Joker’ within us, I know mine and it isn’t nearly as severe as the ‘Joker’s’ in the film, but it is plenty enough to gain understanding in my work as a psychotherapist. In Primary Care where I worked for 12 years, one of my old patients ...
The Beginnings of Bedlamb – or the Month I had over 20 People in my Bed
October 26, 2019 - by Dolly SenThe majority of the filming of Bedlamb has been done. BEDLAMB is my film project on conversations on mental health on a bed covered in cuddly toy lambs, funded by Future’s Venture. The title ‘Bedlamb’ is a nod to ‘Bedlam’, the nickname for the original Bethlem Psychiatric Hospital. The ...
Miss Havisham’s Wedding Dress
September 17, 2019 - by Michelle BaharierI am a multi-disciplinary artist and in 2012 I made work that celebrated the London Olympics and the Paralympics but also Charles Dickens' bi-centenary, depicting Miss Havisham's Wedding Dress. It's now being brought out of storage for a new show, Impatient! Stories of service user advocacy at Bethlem Museum of ...
Protest: out of the asylum and into the recovery plan
August 27, 2019 - by Colin HambrookI am pleased to say that I am going to have a painting – albeit one made nearly 30 years ago – in an exhibition coming up, curated by DAO's own Dolly Sen. Art & Protest: What’s there to be mad about? is on exhibition ...
Life as a Side Effect
August 12, 2019 - by Dolly SenI wonder what would happen if every birth came with a side effect leaflet, would there be less births? Do we care about the pain of existence for some people? What happens if you have an overdose of people? Or an overdose of pain that no tablet can touch? I ...
Waiting for the drought to break
July 4, 2019 - by Aidan MoesbyTwitter analytics tell me my tweets are down 59.6%, tweet impressions down 48.4% and my reach is 26.4k. Compare that to March 78.5K. The picture this data paints is indicative of where I feel I am at. Last March I was about to go away to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust on ...
Psychosis: Origins, Experience and Meaning or dreaming while awake
July 1, 2019 - by Colin HambrookOn Wednesday 26 June I went to a conference run by the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS) in conjunction with Soteria Brighton, Hearing Voices and the Spiritual Crisis Network and felt compelled to write something about the day. I've seen Dr John Read from ...
Arts Health and well-being and the professionals
June 28, 2019 - by Michelle BaharierIt’s probably about time I started writing about all the things I’ve done because it seems that everyone else is #Arts #Health and #Wellbeing. As I am a dyslexic I’ve written this on a speech to text attachment but also due to my dyslexia I am speaking this and it is ...
The JOY of Theatre
June 19, 2019 - by Colin HambrookTurtle Key Arts have a long-standing reputation in their role as creative producers advancing participation in the arts by disabled, disadvantaged and socially excluded people. For the second year running they partnered with the Lyric, Hammersmith to produce JOY – a flagship project of the Hammersmith and Fulham ArtsFest showcasing ...