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Legs
Leathers
Interview with Lizz Brady
What have you been working on lately?
I have just got a studio so I am finally able to start creating work again! I am working on a number of projects, as well as running Broken Grey Wires.
What are you currently reading?
I have three books on the go, Kerouac’s ‘The Dharma Bums’, Stephen Hawkings ‘A Brief History of Time’ and a new one by Dr. Arnold L.Lieber – ‘The Lunar Effect.’ I am interested to find out if the moon patterns has an effect on my depressive and manic episodes.
What/Who is your most influential artist/piece of art/thinker?
Yayoi Kusama – for making me believe I could use my illness for good.
David Lynch – for giving me the inspiration and confidence to be crazy and follow my dreams.
Franz Kafka – for opening my eyes to a bigger, more creative imagination.
What are you excited about lately?
All the exhibitions and events I have coming up with Broken Grey Wires, working with some amazing people and travelling to Thailand in the summer!
Lizz Brady
Glitch: a sudden, usually temporary malfunction or fault of equipment.
In this instance the equipment is Brady’s mind, a temporary malfunction in the bouts of depression or mania which mark her as corrupt and broken.
Brady strives to create a Cartesian Dualism, a link between physical ‘stuff’ and thinking ‘stuff’; through the building of installations which include physical spaces, text, photography and film. She creates an environment which tests the psyche of the viewer and explores this further through the relationship between the audience and herself, focusing on the behaviour and reactions to specific encounters with the work.
Interview with James Bloomfield
Lizz Brady: What draws you to a project like Broken Grey Wires?
James Bloomfield: I think that there is a lot of Stigma associated with Mental Health and challenging and changing peoples perceptions about this is an important tool in making change or opening a dialogue for change or how artists or people with a mental health issue are perceived.
LB: What have you been working on lately?
JB: I am currently working on a series of pit fired ceramic weapons as I explore Americas love affair with firearms and weapon technology.
LB: Does mental health/psychology impact your work. if so how?
JB: Like many Artists I suffer from a range of psychological patterns that impact my work from anxiety to depression to manic highs of excitement and woeful lows of despondency. It has taken me over 15 years to realise and recognise these patterns and act on them accordingly.
LB: What are you currently reading?
JB: I am currently Reading “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” by Dee Brown documenting the Genocide of the Native American People in the 1800’s
LB: What/Who is your most influential artist/piece of art/thinker?
JB: At present I am mostly influenced by the work of Ai Wei Wei who manages to combine beautifully Art and Activism.
LB: What are you excited about lately?
JB: Lately I am excited about the ceramic process and firing clay in a pit in my back garden – combining my love of creating and the destructive process of fire! learning a lot and losing a lot of pieces at the same time.
Great to speak to you James!
See more work here – http://www.jamesbloomfield.co.uk
Paul Digby
“The use of flat painterly surfaces and a graphic quality often combined with a seemingly distant horizon, imbues the imagery with a sense of stillness and timelessness. It is this sense of infinite timelessness, a phenomenological distillation of a sense of present, future and past, which gives Digby’s work a psychological edge where space is not just a geometric or surface space, but an entopic space – the space of mental imagery and dreams.”
– Dr Doug Sandle
Interview with Paul Digby
Lizz Brady: What draws you to a project like Broken Grey Wires?
Paul Digby: Its willingness as an organisation to engage with contemporary art that uses mental health issues as a reference.
LB: What have you been working on lately?
PD: A mural for Broken Grey Wires as well as some drawings of public sector workers, as part of a larger project proposal. Also working with Mental Health service users as well as other community groups for WEA and East Street Arts.
LB: Does mental health/psychology impact your work. if so how?
PD: Yes. I have particularly been interested in the work of Prof. Bruce Hood author of the Self Illusion.
LB: What are you currently reading?
PD: Why the Net Matters by David Eagleman.
LB: What/Who is your most influential artist/piece of art/thinker?
PD: Paris from around 1850 to 1950. Then America and Britain from 1950 to the 1990s.
LB: What are you excited about lately?
Personally, I was really excited about the Mural I painted for Broken Grey Wires.
Thank you Paul! Really interesting to catch up with you.
See the wall Mural at Notting Hill Arts Club in London.
See more work by Paul here – www.pauldigby.co.uk
Interview with Kier Cooke Sandvik
Lizz Brady: What draws you to a project like Broken Grey Wires?
Kier Cooke Sandvik: Broken Grey Wires feels like a very necessary project in the art world, and since my own work has always been heavily influenced by my struggles with mental illness, it’s very exciting to be involved with it.
LB: What have you been working on lately?
KCS: I have periods of being very productive, and periods of being less so. Right now I’m trying to defy my anxiety and get back to work.
LB: Does mental health/psychology impact your work. if so how?
KCS: Mental health influences my work both thematically and on a personal level. It can be a great source of inspiration, but also a hindrance.
LB: What are you currently reading?
KCS: “Camera Lucida” by Roland Barthes and “Man in the Holocene” by Max Frisch.
LB: What/Who is your most influential artist/piece of art/thinker?
KCS: Dennis Cooper’s writing was an immense catalyst for me to start working creatively and openly with the themes I was interested in.
LB: What are you excited about lately?
KCS: I’m excited about travelling to the north of Norway this summer to take photos.
Thank you Kier! Your work looks great in our exhibition 'Make windows where there are walls' at Notting Hill Arts Club in London.
See more from Kier at his website www.kiercs.com
Kier Cooke Sandvik
Kier Cooke Sandvik is a Norwegian artist working primarily with drawing, collage and photography. He has previously exhibited at Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York, Five Years in London and Kunsthall Stavanger. In 2010 he published an artist’s book of drawings on Josh Smith’s 38th Street Publishers, “There’s Something Down There.” The drawings in this exhibition explore feelings of emptyness and woundedness, of depressive obsession and self-destructive desire.
Interview with Lizzie Dunn
Lizz Brady: What draws you to a project like Broken Grey Wires?
Lizzie Dunn: Broken Grey Wires is a forward thinking and exciting organisation with infectious ambition; something I can definitely benefit from as a young artist.
LB: What have you been working on lately?
LD: I have been working with the idea of defunct technology and tangles of wires. I am exploring the inclusion of hoards of wires and broken computer junk within installations, and contrasting this aesthetic against much older, and less structured items.
LB: Does mental health/psychology impact your work. if so how?
LD: Mental health does not impact on my work from me as the artist, however an underlying theme within the installations I present is an evocation of an existence. I wish to relay the idea that this existence may have once inhabited the installations I construct, and as such, the psychology of this character is important.
LB: What are you currently reading?
LD: Jack Kerouac – On The Road and George Orwell – 1984
LB: What/Who is your most influential artist/piece of art/thinker?
LD: Mike Nelson, and in particular his monumental installation I, Impostor which completely transformed the Great British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2011.
LB: What are you excited about lately?
LD: My practice relies very heavily on finding and sourcing discarded items. I am always excited about collecting more and more material to work with, and want to explore more ambitiously the elements of inoperative technology and warn out computer parts within my installations.
Thank you Lizzie, it was great to chat!
Check out more work here http://www.lizziedunn.com
Lizzie Dunn
The condition of these wires, entangled with detritus and wholly dysfunctional, is a representation of disorder and chaos; a hint towards dystopia with defunct technology outwardly trying to gain delusional power. On the other hand, perhaps this tangle of wires reflects a sense of uselessness and is evocative of abandonment and neglect; the intangible circumstance resonating futility and ineffectuality. Entwined within the wires, further items of leftovers can be spotted, and when hung precariously these wires are ultimately a statement of the discarded, with the disquieting potential for the stockpile to continually grow.
Interview with Claire Greaves
Lizz Brady: What inspired you to make this video?
Claire Greaves: I wanted to make the video because I want to spread the message about mental health and reach an audience that would perhaps not read my blog but would watch a short film.
LB: How do your mental health issues effect your day to day?
CG: My mental illness does have an impact on my everyday life because it means that everyday tasks become incredibly difficult and I spend a lot of my week in treatment.
LB: What do you want the video to achieve?
CG: I would like the video to reach people who don't understand much about mental illness, there isn't enough education out there and I want to change it. When we were making the video we imagined that maybe someone would use it to explain to a friend or family member what it is like to be poorly.
LB: Does art help combat any symptoms of your MH problems?
CG: I think art can be incredible for people struggling with their mental health. Sometimes there aren't words to express how bad things are. I think that is where art comes in. As well as being a form of expression, it can be a form of distraction. I have spent hours collaging for no reason other than trying to keep myself safe.
LB: How do you think Broken Grey Wires can make a difference to people who are struggling?
CG: I think Broken Grey Wires can make a huge difference to people who are struggling. On an individual level art is a fantastic coping strategy but on a wider scale there are not enough images or projects out there that truly represent mental health from a sufferer's perspective.
Thank you Claire, you are an inspiration and I hope you continue to use art to express yourself and to help others with understanding and education, i hope we can work together again in the future!
Keep up with Claire's thoughts at her blog - www.mentalillnesstalk.wordpress.com
