Girraween National Park
Girraween ('place of flowers') is one of my favourite places, and I was there two weeks ago, whilst trying to squeeze in some time off, essential for my mental health, which is the theme of this post. It was cold and windy, but it was exhilirating to climb to the top of the Pyramid to take this photo.
Pyramid from the bottom
Meanwhile, back in Brisbane:
'hearing voices': pastel drawing
Then, last week, I was at my placement, before it officially started, at a workshop on 'mental health and hearing voices'. Participants had an experiential taste of what hearing voices might be like, by putting on an MP3 and listening to a simulation of hearing voices - mainly an American male voice saying variations of 'you're shit' and some incoherent mumbling for one hour - which was very intense, distracting and, at times, believable.
An invaluable lesson and quite humbling, as we were able to remove the MP3, unlike those having the 'real' experience.
'Mt.(-ing) Anxiety' - plaster and paint on canvas
This image comes from a team supervision activity at work, in which we created a 3D representation of a difficult feeling out of clay, then covered it with plaster bandage (used to mend broken limbs), and painted the resulting shape once it was secured onto a canvas background. The bandage softened the effect of the feeling, although I have noticed my familiar anxiety revving up for the new semester, like an old friend, almost. And yes, it does bear a slight resemblence to the Pyramid, now I think about it...
My scientist sister Tamsin was on Radio Four's The World Tonight last week talking about the Higgs boson, which was 'discovered' (probably the wrong word) last week at Cern. She has an amazing and enviable ability to explain complex ideas simply, so that even hopelessly arty people can understand. Fantastic work!
Next week is going to be big. Placement starts for real.
More later.
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