Answer In Images: Art and Mental Health Interview with Sue Clancy

Because sometimes what we need to express ourselves isn't words at all or words alone ...

Welcome to Create Me Free where I share all of my deep research into and musings about the complex relationship between art and mental health.

(And I believe that all of us are artists and all face mental health challenges to varying degrees.)

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I am a words person.

I once went to an art museum with an artist friend and halfway through she asked me, “why do you always read the words on the wall text before you look at the images?” Because, it’s the words that make sense to me, because I have a really hard time taking in visual information, because I’m a head person and it’s uncomfortable to me to sit with a sensation or image that has no specific, clear narrative … but knowing this about myself, I have worked to learn how to pay attention to visual messages and how to look at images without working too hard to decode them. In fact, I’m working really hard on this right now, getting a Masters Degree in Visual and Critical Studies.

And, although I’m deeply invested in words, I know that sometimes we can’t express ourselves in words, sometimes words aren’t enough at any given time, sometimes we need images, sometimes only images make sense. And so I wanted to launch an interview series here on Create Me Free where people consider the questions that I ask about the complex relationship between art and mental health and then answer in images - photographs, drawings, whatever images of their own creation are right for them. Images that have no words or are include words as an adjunct to the images, to add another layer to this body of work I’m creating, this online library of resources related to how art and mental health are linked.

Sue Clancy

of

A.M. Sketching

has been one of my favorite artists to collaborate with here on Substack. She is an illustrator who shares terrific sketchbook images that also have brief text on them; we both share a love for the combo of words and images.

We have also interviewed each other in words in the past - her interview of me is here (along with additional posts about it here and here) and my interview of her is here. It remains one of the most popular interviews that I’ve done here on Substack, largely because she is so open and authentic and articulate and clear about the role art has played in a challenging life. I encourage you to read it.

But words aren’t everything. And Sue agreed to be my guinea pig for testing out how this whole visual interview thing is going to work. So, I set up a Google form for completing visual interviews, she tested it, I tweaked it a little, and I think it might be ready to go. Here’s the test run - her visual responses to my open-ended questions.

What does the term mental health mean to you?

What does your own history of mental health look like?

What does creativity mean to you?

How have mental health symptoms impacted your creative process?

How have mental health symptoms impacted the content of your creativity?

In what ways have mental health symptoms impacted your creative medium?

How have mental health symptoms impacted your productivity as an artist?

How have mental health symptoms impacted your self-perception / identity as an artist?

In what ways have mental health symptoms impacted the perception of you as an artist by others - your experiences of stigma and discrimination, your experiences in groups of artists, etc.

How is art therapeutic/cathartic/healing for you?

How has art hindered/harmed your mental health? Or been complicated vs. all positive?

In summary, for you, what is the relationship between art and mental health?

After completing the earlier questions, what is one more image that you feel compelled to share in response to all of this?

Huge thanks to Sue for being the first to complete one of these new visual interviews! Be sure to check out more of her work here on Substack

A.M. Sketching

as well as on her website and on Instagram.

Want to share your own responses to questions about the relationship between art and mental health?

You can answer a visual interview here or answer in words here.