Mad trauma survivor, artist, activist & academic. Seeking epistemic justice, equal rights & a bit less heart pain.
I write & create about:
* living with trauma & madness
* mad art
* carceral psychiatry & human rights
* alternative ways to conceptualise experiences that are labelled 'mental illness'
* shame, silencing & epistemic injustice
* also, cats
Pronouns she/her
#MadMastodon #Trauma #CSA #Artist #PsychSurvivor #DisabilityJustice #Abolition #MadStudies #PeerSupport #HumanRights #Shame
| Latest art project | https://slicesilence.com |
| Blog | http://www.indigodaya.com/ |
| Socials | https://linktr.ee/indigodaya |
| Google Scolar Profile | https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fvM8B0QAAAAJ&hl=en |
A few little photos as well… I’m just feeling so proud that I was able to conceive and finish this art work.
And, feeling kinda relieved that it’s done.
My artist statement:
‘what the fuck are you looking at’
(appropriated hospital gown, mixed media)
Indigo Daya, 2022
I am so glad that back when I had so little power, and had lost all hope, there was enough of a survivor in me to steal their hospital gowns, towels and biros.
A little video of my art installation from the ‘Art as Counter Narrative’ exhibit at the recent Carceral Geography Conference at @[email protected].
This was big emotional & creative labour, revisiting harsh memories from nine years of violent psychiatric treatment.
#artinstallation #psychsurvivor #madstudies #trauma #textileart #sexualviolence #child abuse #carceralstate #abolition #institutionalviolence
i was at the international carceral geography conference this week. one of the highlights was seeing and hearing the work of @IndigoDaya on madness and the horrors of psychiatric imprisonment.
i can think of a pithy take-home that’s easy to summarise, but feel a tremendous amount of anger at the everyday injustices we inflict on our most vulnerable, and an equal amount of hope that we can create a compassionate future
4/ If you’re a mental health clinician, don’t ever presume to think that what we tell you isn’t real.
No matter how strange it seems.
Sure, sometimes it may not be real. But even then, it will be a metaphor for something that matters to us.
Be on our side. Believe us.
3/ I did have the exhibition. I’m sure it sounded unusual (as art can).
My psychiatrist:
—thought it couldn’t be true
—didn’t try to verify
—decided I was delusional
—never told me
How often do psychiatrists presume real experiences are delusions?
Sadly, the exhibition was an expression of something that should have been important to him.
It explored my use of self-injury & my identity. It was an unanswered scream about shame, self-loathing & feeling myself disappear into an abyss of pain.
2/ Years ago, a clinician asked if I was still having delusions.
Me: What do you mean?
Her: Your file says, a few years back, you had a delusional belief about having a strange art exhibition at the Australian Ballet.
Me: Huh? You mean this one?
Um, I have photos.
This morning I got to type a 'delusion' into my PhD application.
For a moment I wondered 'am I sure it really happened?' I had to look at the photos to reassure myself.
I feel sad & angry that #psychiatry can still cause me to doubt myself, after all these years. Those messages wriggle deep into us.
But also I'm feeling a little sense of justice. Reclaiming my past creative act as a strength and an accomplishment, not a delusional symptom.
Thread: the story of my delusional art exhibit...
Wes St. Grey
abolish august
Jen Michels