Exhibitions
BORED SICK
FROM THE MUNDANE TO THE INSANE
April 20th - 30th 2007 : 1200-1900hrs
The Old Bally Shoe Factory, Hall Road, Norwich NR4 6DP
SICK
Maddy Pickett (Jess) - NSAD BTEC Foundation in Art and Design NSAD - 1999.
Personal story: I found myself lonely depressed and frightened, ostracized by friends, not understood by family, living a closed existence in a secret world of psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and doctors. With little or no explanation of the mental illness, bipolar affected disorder (manic depression) and being unsure of what this means and what I should do to help myself, I found myself having an identity crisis - I'm mentally ill!
It took two years to come to terms with my new weighty label and even now the 'problem with me' doesn't sit easily with my own self-identity. I recently became delusional during a manic episode which has been the reason and inspiration for these paintings. I was a self assured, happy-go-lucky, confident adult with a lot to offer. Now, after being diagnosed, sectioned and drugged, then left to get on with life, I find myself with low self esteem, dependent, unable to trust others or myself, on my own and at a loss to know who I am. My life stopped. My social life stopped. Friendships ended. My outlook on life was dark, bleak and with no real hope for leading a fulfilled successful life.
I've decided to do something constructive with my experiences. I've plucked up the courage to put on this exhibition with my sister Jenny Pickett. A personal journey exploring boredom and insanity. The two can seem extremes of each other and quite possibly lead to each other.
Having confronted the viewer with these images and my story through this exhibition, the hope is to ultimately leave the viewer with a better understanding of what mental illness can be like and how it affects daily life. The hope is that the viewer can, on some level, relate to the work and maybe question society's reaction and alienation of people who suffer from mental illness.
I have produced a series of work inspired by these terrifying scenes that plagued me while I was mentally ill. Unable to find the words or have the bravery to express these memories, I have found drawing and painting a means to recollect, analyse and reflect on these memories, in the hope that I am understood. I have my own realisations and doubts of the believability of these visual images, from the uncertainty and fragmentation I have of these memories. I can only touch on this strength zapping subject.
BORED
Jenny Pickett - BA (Hons) Fine Art, Falmouth College of Art - 2003.
I have worked as a learning support assistant and have spent the time following a class from lesson to lesson. As I have been there I have made studies of the children at their desks. From these studies, I have painted their dull school environment with pupils bored at their desks. The paintings should be as boring for the viewer as the lessons were for the pupils.
April 20th - 30th 2007 : 1200-1900hrs
The Old Bally Shoe Factory, Hall Road, Norwich NR4 6DP
