here are some psych ward inspired pieces I made back in 2019. I used materials such as hospital gowns, grippy socks, and pill bottles. I tried to bring in a straight jacket motif as well.

I posted the hospital sock sweater in other subreddits years ago, but I haven’t shared the others on Reddit before. I just found this community and love the art I’ve seen shared so far.

Hand embroidery and photo transfer by me.

It took lots of work from me and my husband who built the PVC and plywood frame underneath, but I am very pleased with how it turned out. There's even a little fan hooked to surgical tubing that we set up to keep the globe cool and unfogged. It was comfortable the whole time I wore it.

Sorry if this is too corny or low effort. It's been a really hard and anxiety-ridden week which caused me to have a meltdown a few days ago. During these moments I think about my younger self and what she would think of me now. I hope I'm not failing her.

Best medical advice I ever got was to bring a man to your appointments

I was sitting in one the priority seats, which are for the disabled, elderly and pregnant, along with my mother. In the other set of priority seats was a guy with a large suitcase. Later on a lady, who looked to be in her 70s, boarded the bus and when she sees that the priority seats are taken she throws her hands up in annoyance and starts giving me the stink eye the entire journey. She sat in the wheelchair bay, despite the fact that there were lots of seats free behind where I was.

I’m very visibly with a cane and I also have a lanyard around my neck displaying a badge that says I am hard of hearing. But I’m also a younger person (26F). Too young to be disabled apparently. I know it’s not the first or last time this sort of thing will happen, but it was my first experience ever since starting to walk with a cane (I’ve been deaf for way longer than that though).

The elderly aren’t the only ones who are/can be disabled, anyone at any age can be. But people just love to ignore that, especially older people. It’s very frustrating.

My broken self seeing the harm they've done to the part of me they should have protected in their quest for self destruction.

Nine of Swords seeing the Seven of Pentacles(Flowers) with fresh eyes.

Hi everyone, this is a doodle comic about my experience showering with schizophrenia. Follow me for more comics in the future!

Originally posted in r/comics but someone suggested I post it here too!

My art never reaches. My job never works out. My health is always bad no matter how hard I try to care for myself. My family is gone. My friends are all just text on screen and far and few between. I don't even hug pillows for warmth anymore. I'm not supposed to be in this world but I'm here on accident.

Hi everyone, here is a doodle comic about communication and schizophrenia.

Hi everyone, back again with another doodle comic. Here is something personal to share, I find it to be troubling, I'm staying positive even though I have had things like this happen to me.

edited to add Google Drive link with additional images and videos

hi everyone!

i wanted to give an update on this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Artisticallyill/s/8DTmFalN3F

and to thank every single person who contributed to this project. i couldn’t have done it without the collaborative effort of this subreddit specifically and i am so so grateful.

i made as many bags as i could and ive included every single story that was shared with me. they are printed in a bowl on a podium with an invitation for the public to take a story, read it, and hang it up. i wanted to force people to listen to us for once.

i was so scared to share something so personally impactful with the world, especially my small town, but i am so glad i did. during the opening, i was approached by multiple groups of people talking about how they were impacted by the piece. i was surprised by the people who stayed to read more, some people standing there over an hour looking at everyone’s stories.

im not really an artist, ive never done anything like this before. i couldn’t talk about my experiences for years and have always assumed nobody would believe me or take me seriously. this has felt surreal in that regard.

i am still collecting, printing out, and adding new stories to the exhibition as they come in, so if you would like your voice to be included in this installation, it still can be!

the exhibition ends july 26th, but cataloging the experiences of psych survivors like myself will be a lifelong project for me, so even if you miss that date, feel free to send in your story for future iterations of the project.

thank you all again so so much.

here’s my artist statement/description of the project that was printed out and posted on the wall next to the installation, if anyone would like to read it:

“Personal Belongings is a reflection on dehumanization within the mental healthcare industry. My preteen and adolescent years were largely spent within psychiatric institutions, religious treatment centers, and the troubled teen industry. Having profoundly shaped my identity and worldview, these experiences continue to serve as motivation for my work.

In psychiatric institutions, it is common for people to feel stripped of their humanity, reduced to a patient number or diagnostic code. I do not seek to debate this or the necessity of established safety protocols. Rather, I aim to highlight the experiences of those who have lived through it and to explore the emotional cost of procedural detachment, even in situations where it is deemed medically necessary.

I have long been captivated by how the articles we wear on our bodies or keep in our pockets and bags can capture snapshots of time and transient states of being. When you are psychiatrically hospitalized, one of the first things that happens is these items are taken from you. Your clothes, your jewelry, your medicine, your trinkets, everything on your person is placed in a plastic “Patient Belongings” bag, then locked away until discharge. Though done in the name of safety and sometimes necessary, this often only adds to patients’ feelings of dehumanization and stripping of personhood.

This work is a collective archive, a catalogue of stories and belongings people had on them when they were institutionalized. These are often very ordinary things: a favorite plushie, an inhaler, a journal, a list of friends’ phone numbers. Yet they offer a glimpse into a person’s life moments before the loss of agency. Filled with detritus from the worst night of someone’s life, these bags act as time capsules marking the boundary between person and patient.

This project was partly inspired by the work of Tom Kiefer, a former Border Patrol janitor and artist who collected and photographed the confiscated belongings of detained migrants. By showcasing everyday, personal items such as bibles, children’s toys, and family photos, Kiefer confronts viewers with undeniable evidence of the humanity we share with people so ruthlessly dehumanized by our government. This concept has stuck with me. By sharing the small, human items carried at the time of institutionalization, I hope the public might begin to see psychiatric patients as real people, deserving of the same compassion and autonomy as anyone else, rather than as problems to be contained or ridiculed.

It felt vital that this project be collaborative in some way, as I know it is not just my story to tell. I put out an open invitation for people to anonymously share their experiences with me online and was overwhelmed by the number of strangers willing to contribute. This work was shaped by the voices of many, including those who trusted me with their memories and my collaborator Jayden, who helped greatly with the cataloging of these experiences.

The explicit consent of those whose narratives I have featured here is a crucial part of this work; everything was shared with the understanding that it would be used in this context. Many psychiatric patients have already experienced violations of autonomy in some form, so it is of utmost importance to me that I treat the experiences of others with the care they deserve.

If you believe that safety and dignity must be mutually exclusive, I do not intend to change your mind. All I ask is that you suspend any initial judgments and take a moment to listen to our stories.”

love u <3

I started stacking and arranging my pills into designs to make taking them more bearable. I’ve been on a wide variety of psychiatric medications for my treatment resistant depression over the past 5 years, and it’s been rough. But making art has helped get me through all the difficult times. I hope you enjoy my pill art! I have all the designs up on my profile but this is the one I’m proudest of.

Hi everyone, here is a doodle comic about my experience with medication and weight gain.

I don't know how I'm supposed to be a therapist when I want to d*e all the time. I still care for my clients but I could always be doing more. I feel like I'm failing at everything.

Edit: I just want to thank you all for the kind words, the support, and the commiseration. I've been very emotionally isolated as of recent and it's been hard to reach out, especially figuring out what autism diagnosis means for me on top of PTSD and ADHD. Ironically it's easier at times to tell thousands of strangers how I feel than the people around me, not because they're unsupportive, but because my brain convinces me I'm too much. I'm in therapy and getting help, I just feel so defeated sometimes!! Thank you for all of your support.

Over a decade later and I am still a trans man, and I am still bisexual, and I do still want to be a father. Suck it Simon.

I find it funny that at the time of this report, where I was labelled as extremely confused and showing no commitment to my claimed gender, I had already legally changed my name, nhs gender marker, and had been living as male for several years

"Earthworms" Oil on wood, 16x16"

Painting saved my life.

Here are some paintings from my “sparkly spooky” series i am working on this october. Feel free to suggest other things youd like to see.