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Just browsing through the entries into the “Shattered Self” contest on dA, and… ugh. Okay, fellow artists:
The following themes and motifs used to illustrate Dissociative Identity Disorder are not new, original, interesting, accurate, or useful. They have been done and overdone, and don’t generally represent the experiences of multiples.
- Someone’s reflection in a shattered mirror, with each shard reflecting a different face.
- A whole bunch of arms coming out of somebody, usually violently.
- A whole bunch of shadowy figures standing around being ominous.
- A distorted body with a bunch of arms, legs, torsos, heads, etc., all of which are struggling to rip themselves away from the others.
- Stuff that looks like horror movie posters, in general.
- Images of faces/bodies broken like dropped porcelain or glass.
- Dopplegangers of the body sitting around like Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic” video, having identical faces with different expressions and clothes.
- Someone carrying a selection of masks, usually with the exact same face but different facial expressions.
- Images of people with DID killing other people.
To me, using any of the above tropes indicates that you didn’t do your homework and don’t really know your subject matter, other than using someone else’s life experience for cheap drama. Do your homework or go and paint something else. Let the people who live the experience depict themselves.
The following themes and motifs used to illustrate Dissociative Identity Disorder are not new, original, interesting, accurate, or useful. They have been done and overdone, and don’t generally represent the experiences of multiples.
- Someone’s reflection in a shattered mirror, with each shard reflecting a different face.
- A whole bunch of arms coming out of somebody, usually violently.
- A whole bunch of shadowy figures standing around being ominous.
- A distorted body with a bunch of arms, legs, torsos, heads, etc., all of which are struggling to rip themselves away from the others.
- Stuff that looks like horror movie posters, in general.
- Images of faces/bodies broken like dropped porcelain or glass.
- Dopplegangers of the body sitting around like Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic” video, having identical faces with different expressions and clothes.
- Someone carrying a selection of masks, usually with the exact same face but different facial expressions.
- Images of people with DID killing other people.
To me, using any of the above tropes indicates that you didn’t do your homework and don’t really know your subject matter, other than using someone else’s life experience for cheap drama. Do your homework or go and paint something else. Let the people who live the experience depict themselves.
New: Our Patreon Page!
For as low as $1 a month, you can help our art career. Patreon is awesome for us because it gives us the possibility of a regular income, even with our social anxiety, executive dysfunction, nonstop dissociation, etc, etc, etc. Now we can keep being creative with less pressure.
And what do our patrons get out of it? Once or twice a month we hold a lottery among all of our patrons and the WINNER GETS ART. Sometimes it will be simple stuff like a sketch or a few hand-painted greeting cards- sometimes it will be awesome stuff like A HAND-BOUND SKETCHBOOK MADE FROM HANDMADE PAPER or A FULL, FINISHED ARTWORK WORTH $300-$1000. And all you have to d
2011 was...
...a very difficult journey, personally. Lots of difficult stuff happened, with some slow progress towards stability, and a huge creative outpouring. An album, several paintings, a NaNoWriMo novel, scores of poems and songs, journalling... It was a tremendous year for us artistically.
2012, the goal is to start putting all of those creative works out there to be enjoyed, and hopefully bought, by the world. 2012 is looking to be a really fantastic year.
Thanks to all of our friends here for the support- sorry we haven't been very active on dA or LJ lately, but we're not gone, just going through a different sort of phase.
Happy New Year, eve
Next direction?
Ana finished her album!
http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/86356
We're still undecided as to what to do next artistically. Rex has suggested more music, which makes sense given that we don't really have a painting studio in our new place (boarding at friends'.)
So... watch this space.
-Ian
Creative Energies
FYI: Creative project of the month is RPM Challenge- the goal is to create an entire music album in the month of February. Ana has taken it on as a solo project.
On top of that, we're moving, job-hunting, and basically living through chaos. As a result, we won't be posting much new here for a few weeks (unless one of us digs out something old off the hard drive to upload). Don't despair. We shall return soon.
-Ian
Comments2
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I suffer from that illness and I have no problem with people posting art about it. I can't watch the movie Split because of possible trigger, etc. but I enjoy going through the tag of the shattered self contest, because it's really interesting how different people imagine DID or how they experienced the movie. Everyone with DID experiences it in a slightly different way. And for me, some of the artwork I've seen, were pretty accurate (I won't say which one, so don't ask). This is art, and art can be crazy and it can be out of mind and even if it's not "new" or something like that, it can be special and deviantart should be a place where everyone can post their art without offending others. If you don't like it, don't go into the tag. If you feel triggered, don't go into the tag. I don't know if you suffer from DID or if you know someone who does, but, as a person who knows what it's like to share a body with multiple personalities, I think that any kind of art should be posted. Every artist deserves to be noticed, no matter what art they create.