All Sky, Mirror Ocean
A Healing Manifesto
By Brad Necyk
All Sky, Mirror Ocean weaves and knots autobiography, research-creation, and creative philosophy into an exploration of mental illness, healing, and visionary art. Looking to uncover and tell new stories about trauma and recovery, visual artist Brad Necyk explores his own histories with Bipolar Affective Disorder and childhood medical trauma alongside those of groups dealing with grief and loss: communities in Iqaluit aggrieved by suicide; head and neck cancer patients in Edmonton; and psychiatric inpatients at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. These lived experiences intertwine with scholarship on research-creation, neuroscience, collaboration, and altered states to reveal the understanding and acceptance that comes from acknowledging our deep connections—to ideas and emotions, to our environments, to art, and to each other. Filled with art and stream of consciousness writing, the book celebrates the spontaneous-emotional mode of creativity. Showing deep compassion and wisdom, All Sky, Mirror Ocean hopes to be an exemplar for multimodal research-creation exploration and artistic fieldwork and is for all readers looking to understand the complex issues around mental illness and healing.
Book details
Publication date: January 2024Features: 61 colour images, annotated bibliography, alternate table of contents
Keywords: Auto-ethnography, Research-creation, Memoir, Mental Illness, Healing, Art, Trauma, healing, Creative Philosophy, Bipolar Affective Disorder, Suicide, Cancer, Artistic Fieldwork, Creation-as-research, Medical Humanities; Buddhist; Psychedelic Studies
Subject(s): ART / Individual Artists / Monographs, Art & Performance, Art & Performance / Research Creation, Health & Psychology, Health & Psychology / Psychology, Health & Psychology, Health & Psychology / Medical Humanities, Creative Writing, MEDICAL / Mental Health, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs, Memoirs, Coping with mental health issues, Individual artists, art monographs, Art, Disability Studies, Auto-ethnography, Research-creation, Memoir, Mental Illness, Healing, Art, Trauma, healing, Creative Philosophy, Bipolar Affective Disorder, Suicide, Cancer, Artistic Fieldwork, Creation-as-research, Medical Humanities; Buddhist; Psychedelic Studies, Research-creation / Mental Health / Art
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Book details
Publication date: January 2024Features: 61 colour images, annotated bibliography, alternate table of contents
Keywords: Auto-ethnography, Research-creation, Memoir, Mental Illness, Healing, Art, Trauma, healing, Creative Philosophy, Bipolar Affective Disorder, Suicide, Cancer, Artistic Fieldwork, Creation-as-research, Medical Humanities; Buddhist; Psychedelic Studies
Subject(s): ART / Individual Artists / Monographs, Art & Performance, Art & Performance / Research Creation, Health & Psychology, Health & Psychology / Psychology, Health & Psychology, Health & Psychology / Medical Humanities, Creative Writing, MEDICAL / Mental Health, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs, Memoirs, Coping with mental health issues, Individual artists, art monographs, Art, Disability Studies, Auto-ethnography, Research-creation, Memoir, Mental Illness, Healing, Art, Trauma, healing, Creative Philosophy, Bipolar Affective Disorder, Suicide, Cancer, Artistic Fieldwork, Creation-as-research, Medical Humanities; Buddhist; Psychedelic Studies, Research-creation / Mental Health / Art
Publisher(s): The University of Alberta Press
Brad Necyk. Brad Necyk is a visual artist and writer whose practice focuses on mental illness, empathy, consciousness, and flourishing. He is a Postdoctoral Fellow at York University. He lives near Victoria, BC.
Natalie Loveless.
Acknowledgements
for sha : on writing
Introduction
Alberta #3
Iqaluit, Nunavut
Telling Stories Otherwise
Edmonton, Alberta
No Trespassing
Cancer
A research meeting
Being
Healing
World Gone Wrong
1987
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario
Unwell
Stories and Worlds
Worlding
The Open
Morning Light
Death #1
A Dry City
Spaciousness
Knowing
An Arts-Based Workshop
The Abyss
For Mom, For Dad
The Origin of the Work of Art
Visionary Art
The Visionary Artist
Distant Early Warning
Self-Showing
North Bay, Ontario
Unthinkable Stories
The Behaviour of Art
Knowing Otherwise
Creation-as-Research
Co-Creating Cancer
Waiting Room
For my Grandma
For Jesse
For Ellie
For Him
For Mary
The New Girl
Co-Creation
Default-Mode Network
Entropic Brain
Psilocybin
For Derek and Luanna
ECT
A Sermon
Psychiatric Rooms
Music Room
Into Mania
For the young girl next to me, who is still with me
Death #2
Life
For Candace
Select Annotated Bibliography
References
Alternative Tables of Content
Iqaluit
Iqaluit, Nunavut
No Trespassing
Morning Light
A Dry City
An Arts-Based Workshop
Cancer
Edmonton, Alberta
Cancer
A Research Meeting
Self-Showing
Unthinkable Stories
Co-creating Cancer
Waiting Room
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
Unwell
North Bay, Ontario
For Jesse
For Him
The New Girl
Co-creation
For Derek and Luanna
ECT
A Sermon
Psychiatric Rooms
Music Room
Family
Alberta #3
World Gone Wrong
1987
For Mom, For Dad
For my grandma
For Ellie
For Mary
Into Mania
For the young girl next to me, who is still with me
For Candace
Visionary Art
Telling Stories Otherwise
Being
Healing
Stories and Worlds
Worlding
The Open
Death #1
Spaciousness
Knowing
The Abyss
The Origin of the Work of Art
Visionary Art
The Visionary Artist
Distant Early Warning
The Behaviour of Art
Knowing Otherwise
Creation-as-research
Default-Mode Network
Entropic Brain
Psilocybin
Death #2
Life
Brad Necyk. Brad Necyk is a visual artist and writer whose practice focuses on mental illness, empathy, consciousness, and flourishing. He is a Postdoctoral Fellow at York University. He lives near Victoria, BC.
Natalie Loveless.
Acknowledgements
for sha : on writing
Introduction
Alberta #3
Iqaluit, Nunavut
Telling Stories Otherwise
Edmonton, Alberta
No Trespassing
Cancer
A research meeting
Being
Healing
World Gone Wrong
1987
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario
Unwell
Stories and Worlds
Worlding
The Open
Morning Light
Death #1
A Dry City
Spaciousness
Knowing
An Arts-Based Workshop
The Abyss
For Mom, For Dad
The Origin of the Work of Art
Visionary Art
The Visionary Artist
Distant Early Warning
Self-Showing
North Bay, Ontario
Unthinkable Stories
The Behaviour of Art
Knowing Otherwise
Creation-as-Research
Co-Creating Cancer
Waiting Room
For my Grandma
For Jesse
For Ellie
For Him
For Mary
The New Girl
Co-Creation
Default-Mode Network
Entropic Brain
Psilocybin
For Derek and Luanna
ECT
A Sermon
Psychiatric Rooms
Music Room
Into Mania
For the young girl next to me, who is still with me
Death #2
Life
For Candace
Select Annotated Bibliography
References
Alternative Tables of Content
Iqaluit
Iqaluit, Nunavut
No Trespassing
Morning Light
A Dry City
An Arts-Based Workshop
Cancer
Edmonton, Alberta
Cancer
A Research Meeting
Self-Showing
Unthinkable Stories
Co-creating Cancer
Waiting Room
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
Unwell
North Bay, Ontario
For Jesse
For Him
The New Girl
Co-creation
For Derek and Luanna
ECT
A Sermon
Psychiatric Rooms
Music Room
Family
Alberta #3
World Gone Wrong
1987
For Mom, For Dad
For my grandma
For Ellie
For Mary
Into Mania
For the young girl next to me, who is still with me
For Candace
Visionary Art
Telling Stories Otherwise
Being
Healing
Stories and Worlds
Worlding
The Open
Death #1
Spaciousness
Knowing
The Abyss
The Origin of the Work of Art
Visionary Art
The Visionary Artist
Distant Early Warning
The Behaviour of Art
Knowing Otherwise
Creation-as-research
Default-Mode Network
Entropic Brain
Psilocybin
Death #2
Life
