carrie ravenscroft London, United Kingdom
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Hello! I'm a queer, neurodivergent and emotionally driven illustrator with a personal awareness of the social impacts of disability and mental illness. I try to address discrimination, stigmatisation and ignorance in my work, in a way that is tolerable. I've personally suffered from a lifetime of mental illness and ADHD, which is translated directly into my art.

I enjoy mixing media: watercolour, marker pens, colouring pencils, ink and gel pens. Most of my art is done on cardboard boxes, MDF and various papers. More recently I tend to draw on A3 watercolour paper.

At some point I felt the need to try and categorise and explain my ideas to myself before they happened, otherwise I would keep asking myself: “ok great, I love drawing. but now what and why? How do I approach the topic of mental health and start an important conversation around recovery? And why?”

I have ADHD and art doesn’t work like that for me. If I rationally plan something, it's unlikely to go in the direction I want. It will instead result in a feeling of failure, a familiar and predictable experience for me. However, if a strong emotion is a driving force in my execution, then the result is often much more profound. Whether or not that evolves into something of worth, outside of my own mind, is a different story but for me it holds meaning.

Personally, I found the fine art world to be intimidating, judgemental and unsafe. My first love is within the mental health care sector, especially helping people through art. Art itself doesn't mean as much to me if it isn't connected to these things.

I've personally suffered from a lifetime of mental illness and ADHD, which is translated directly into my art. I am currently a Mental Health Support Worker in a Mind Crisis Cafe and volunteers at Mind Outcome, facilitating online art sessions for a specialist LGBTQ+ service. I have previously worked as an Inclusion Playworker for disabled children, a role that taught me the importance of all kinds of play for all of us. I am an advocate of psychological awareness and reflection, expressing a strong love for the therapeutic powers of art, as I pursue a career in art therapy.

Artwork

Lockdown Part 1, Watercolour and pens on paper, 2020

Details

Interested in
Artist TalkArts vacancyCommissionExhibitionParticipatory projectResidencyVolunteeringWorkshop
Media
Art writingDrawingIllustrationInternetPaintingSocially Engaged PracticeTextWatercolour
Other keywords
DocumentaryFeminismIdentityMemorymental healthrecoveryDisabilityneurodiversityneurodivergentWellbeingtherapyLGBTqueer