I originally wrote this post for Rebelle Society years ago. It remains relevant to my depression story today, so I wanted to share it again. It expresses how despite living with chronic relapses of depression over the past 25 years, I don’t always know in the beginning of each one what is going on. I think it’s something else, usually something that’s my fault, until I finally realize it’s depression again. Depression came back. It walked right in through the front door while I was busy guarding all of the windows and cracks. It ignored the sign warning that “danger, there’s a dog here to protect me”. It sidled up…
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Interview with Photomontage Artist Eva Lake
Eva Lake is a multi-media artist who began making punk art zines and installations in the 1970s. She has been exhibiting her work in various forums for more than 30 years. Over the years she has worked: in the makeup and fashion industry as an art interviewer for radio as a writer working on art features singing in post-punk bands and New York musicals as an exhibition curator This was all while making her own visual art. Her art, primarily in photomontage, explores themes of women and their shared narratives. On Being An Artist Becoming an Artist I didn’t really make a decision to be an artist. It was always…
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How Sharing My Depression Story Helped Me Help Others
In 2012, I published a book called Crochet Saved My Life, in which I shared the stories of two dozen women who had used yarncrafting to heal and improve the symptoms of a diverse array of mental and physical ailments. The first story I shared was my own. It is a story of living through 15+ years of chronic depression without knowing or naming it. It is a story of nearing the depths of suicidality. Additionally, it is about pulling myself out of that depth. I did that with help from therapy, medication, yoga, a strong support network and, yes, crochet. Sharing my story was relatively easy by the time…
