307. "Broken Light", un particular colectivo fotográfico.

¡Es Navidad!, y andaba pensando acerca de una entrada que trasmitiera ese espíritu navideño de esperanza y buenas vibraciones en que andamos todos afanados en desearnos estos días. No se me ocurría nada, hasta que he recordado que días atrás me llevé una muy agradable sorpresa, al conocer la existencia de un particular colectivo de amantes y practicantes de la fotografía que reúne todos los méritos para esta entrada navideña y que, a partir de ahora, su web sea uno de los destacados dentro del particular mundo psiquifotero. "Broken Light" está conformado por personas practicantes de la fotografía, que viven con una enfermedad mental o se ven afectados por ella, que buscan el apoyo mutuo a través de la publicación de sus trabajos en su propio espacio web desde hace ya casi 3 años. Lo primero que hice cuando les conocí fue apuntarme para recibir noticia puntual de cada una de sus frecuentes colaboraciones, ¡y merecen la pena!.

El colectivo fue fundado por la fotógrafa y editora independiente Danielle Hark de Nueva York. Lo hizo precisamente en medio de un grave episodio depresivo, cuando se dio cuenta que retomando la fotografía que había abandonado, podía sacar a la luz ciertos estados anímicos que era incapaz de articular con palabras. Esto le ayudó a dejar el encamamiento en que se encontraba, para retomar el contacto con el mundo exterior, y a partir de ahí sentirse inspirada para intentar ayudar a otras personas con el mismo proceso que le había rescatado a ella. Desde entonces, en Broken Light están empeñados en el apoyo mutuo, además de luchar contra el estigma y como ellos dicen: extender "la luz".

Y desde que el colectivo vio la luz, su crecimiento y el número de imágenes incluidas en su web no son nada desdeñables, todas ellas incluidas entre algunos de los epígrafes, entiendo que diagnósticos de sus creadores, que trascrio a continuación (¡espero que se me perdone la pereza de no traducirlos todos ellos del inglés!, que tampoco haré de los textos que ilustran las imágenes y que copio directamente de su página).

Categories

ADD (Trastorno por déficit de atención)

Agoraphobia

Anorexia

Anxiety

Autism

Bipolar

Borderline (Límite)

Borderline Personality Disorder

Cyclothymia

Depression

Dissociative Identity

Friends/Family

Hypomania/Mania

Inspiration

Mental Health Pro

Mental Illness

OCD (Trastorno Obsesivo Compulsivo)

Panic Disorder

Photography

Postpartum Depression

PTSD

Schizoaffective

Schizophrenia

Substance Abuse

trichotillomania

Uncategorized

Photos taken by first-time contributor Ash, a teenage student from South Africa. Alongside several autonomic diseases, Ash suffers from severe depression intermingled with brief periods of hypomania. While her mood has improved on her current medication, Ash still goes through depressive episodes. She turns to photography as her mental safe-haven.

About these photos: “These are a couple of self-portraits from a 365 project I am currently doing. I call the series ‘Hidden.’ Both are lit with harsh flash; my favourite kind of light.”

Find more from Ash at her blog.

Photo taken by contributor Teija, a woman in her thirties from Finland. Teija suffered from a severe depressive episode at the age of 25, which turned into psychosis, and led to a three month hospitalization. Fortunately, she got better quite quickly and got her life back on track. She found love after getting out of the hospital. Her life changed drastically when her partner was paralyzed in December of 2012. It has been hard ever since. They are both fighting to keep from getting too depressed. Life goes on and they try to stay strong. She has been interested in photography for many years, but began actively exploring it over the last five years.

About this photo: “This photograph for me is about letting sorrow go, or about telling goodbyes to someone you cannot ever meet again. I shared this photograph on my blog right after my uncle’s funeral. It helped me process my sorrow.”

Find more from Teija at her blog.

Photos taken by first-time contributor Khalil McBride, a teenager from Connecticut who has been living with psychosis and depression since he was 13-years-old. Over the years, he has seen numerous therapist and been inpatient several times, and when everything seemed hopeless, he discovered photography.

About these photos: “The ocean reminds me of my thoughts, completely wild crashing everywhere, but also they can be very calm and mindful. That’s why I chose the ocean for my subject because it resembles how I think.“

Photo taken by contributor Cricket, an artist living with schizophrenia. In 2000, he was hospitalized for hearing voices, paranoid thoughts, and self destructive behavior. Since then, medication has helped him live a somewhat normal life. Depression and paranoid thoughts sometimes return, but he recognizes it and turns to creating art. He gets hyper-creative at times, painting, drawing and taking photographs constantly.

About this photo: “I tend to love the dark – I’m very fond of night shots. I’m attracted to dark rich colors and this shows up in my art and the way I dress. This shot was taken walking across Berkeley at dusk.”

You can find more from Cricket at his flickr or Society 6.

Photo taken by contributor Uday Narayanan, a 26-year-old from New Delhi, India. Uday has an uncle who suffers from Schizophrenia. His uncle has been living with him for the last 20 years. Growing up, Uday remembers his uncle as being a loving man who would play with him every evening, but who would get extremely moody at times. As a kid, the frequent switches in his uncle’s behavior would annoy Uday. It was only after his parents explained to him about his condition that he realized how tough it is for him. In a country like India, mental illness is still a taboo. No one talks about it openly. Going to a psychiatrist or even a psychologist raises several eyebrows. It is very important that people are educated about mental illness so that they don’t shy away from seeking professional help. Uday’s uncle takes medication regularly and is leading a very healthy, content and normal life. Uday stresses that mental illness should not be considered different from any other disorder. Like in any other illness, it’s a case of a certain body part not functioning exactly the way it should. With proper medication and care it can be treated effectively.

About this photo: “Life, in a lot of ways, is like a swirl of smoke. Mysterious and unpredictable. You never know what twists and turns it would take or how it will shape up. Like smoke, it is short and temporary. The purpose of life is to live the experiences, both good and bad, before it finally, like a puff of smoke, drifts into oblivion.”


Las anteriores imágenes no son más que simples ejemplos tomados al azar de su página, donde se acompañan de otro gran número de instantáneas de los mismos y otros muchos autores de cualquier rincón del mundo. Nos recuerdan de esta manera la universal presencia de la enfermedad mental, la lucha que sus protagonistas deben realizar todos los días frente a ella y los creativos recursos que muchos utilizan, así como el solidario apoyo y compromiso que requieren del resto de ese diverso mundo en que todos vivimos.

Sin duda, es un proyecto merecedor de todo nuestro apoyo y para el que desde psiquifotos animamos a inscribirse para recibir aviso de las imágenes que vayan publicando, hacer un "me gusta" en su página de Facebook, o incluso realizar una donación económica a través de su web.

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Descargo de responsabilidad: He utilizado las imágenes sin ánimo de lucro, con un objetivo de investigación y estudio, en el marco del principio de uso razonable - sin embargo, estoy dispuesto a retirarlas en caso de cualquier infracción de las leyes de copyright.
Disclaimer: I have used the images in a non for profit, scholarly interest, under the fair use principle - however, I am willing to remove them if there is any infringement of copyright laws.