Anna Drew

This text is a manifested vision of two artist's journey's through a mental health stay. One experiencing and one observing. Like the beat poetry of Kerouac this poetic and watercolored story was created from the eye within the eye. It combines spontaneous writing, pure sound and verbal play. Based on the true experience of Anna who had built a great life for herself and then became untethered. Anna's mind works differently. One day she was making breakfast and the next thing she knew she was being whisked away in an ambulance for electric shock therapy. She is labeled bi-polar.

The current state of the mental health care system needs light, it needs evolution. It is reliant on a system that continues to perpetuate the ideology that does not represent the beautiful brains that enter it's spaces. We demand nourishment, healing and heart centered care. Anna's experience necessitates a deep look into changing in the way we treat the neurodivergent thinkers in this world. Anna is on the leading edge of how we think about Mental Health and a walking example of the potential and resilience available to any human being.

Anna and I became twined together as the pay phone calls came to me thousands of miles away. I felt a vicarial connection to her story and also her ability to articulate her experience to me. We took this journey together. We stamped it. I knew at a soul level that this story needed to be told. I began to construct the walls of this story. I studied her life, I filled up pages of words, layers of collage and beautiful watercolors to embody her experience. I did that to celebrate the triumph of her human spirit. I wrote this story to honor others like Anna that continue to forge a path to a new paradigm. This is her story. This is our story.