DISSOCIA-WHAT?
Ivy Niemira
Oil on board, 12cm × 20cm
There is a large amount of stigma and mystery surrounding Dissociative Identity Disorder. In the outsider art world itself it seems to be presented as a ‘creative way to cope with unbearable pain’’ as Kim Noble, who has over 20 personalities, puts across. I feel that this helps perpetuate the stigma for the rest of the community, myself included, especially as it’s coming from someone with the diagnosis. I wanted to use my work to offer another perspective as I have lived with it for nearly 11 years and have been diagnosed for the last two. Taking inspiration from Francesca Woodman’s photographs such as House #3 (1976) – she hauntingly captures motion using long exposure, obscures identity and blurs the overall picture. For me it represents the lack of a full, stable self, something I wanted to recreate using oil paints after taking screen stills from a dance video I made recently. I created 7 ‘mini-me’ character to represent each of my own alters.