ITW Darryl Cunningham interview - EPSM de l`agglomération lilloise

In english
!Would you choose a drawing to illustrate your interview : it will determine an axis of
speech...
- Why did you choose this picture?
!This is an image for the current book I’m working on which is called Supercrash. Since i
was very young I’ve loved drawing buildings and urban landscapes. I spent my childhood in
a part of northern England that is full of hills and valleys. I was always aware of the
landscape around me growing up and the view of distant streets on opposing hills. It
became a fascination, a constant theme in my artwork, and a feature of many of my
comic strips.
!
- Can you explain how the comic was a "return to life" (as the last paragraph of Psychiatric
Fables)?
!I spent many years working in mental health. I worked as a nursing assistant on a
psychiatric ward, after which, i began to train as a psychiatric nurse. After two years of
this very tough course, and with only one year to go before I’d achieved my qualification,
I found that I could not go on with it. i’d become completely burned out: mentally and
emotionally exhausted with the work. I fell into a deep depression of my own and
suffered terrible anxiety. I had to leave the work due to this illness.
Afterwards, i began drawing up many the experiences I’d had working in psychiatry
into comic strip stories, which I then posted online for people to read. I got a huge
response from these strips. Many thousands of views and hundreds of emails. The stories
explained the many illnesses we see in mental health: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder,
depression. I wanted to help dispel the stigma that surrounds mental illness. They proved
hugely popular with the public, and this positive response helped lift me out of the
depressive illness i’d fallen into. I felt i’d not wasted my life after all, and still had much
to contribute. I detail this experience in the last chapter of the book.
!!
!- Has Internet allowed you to be recognized as an artist, hasn’t it ? Especially with comics
on famous people with mental disorders: Brian Wilson, Nick Drake, Winston Churchill and
actress Judy Garland ?
!Yes. The popularity online of the psychiatric cartoon strips led to interest from
publishers, both in the UK and then France and the US. The amazing thing is that I didn't
submit anything to these publishers. They contacted me, having seen the work online.
This shows, i think, that gone are the days when a creator would have to send material
off to publishers and then wait patiently for it to pulled from the slush pile and
eventually read. If a writer or artist can build a big enough following, then publishers will
come to you. Write what you are passionate about and you will find that others are
passionate about it too.
!!
!- What were the effects of the release of Fables, and its translation into several
languages?
!It has
allowed me to go on to produce further books and to gain some recognition
internationally.
!
!!
!!
Do you keep a good memory of your work in psychiatry?
!Throughout my time working on the psychiatric wards, I kept a diary of events and I drew
from much of this material when I wrote the book. I’ve recently started to keep a diary
again, although I doubt much of it will end up in comic strip form.
!
- Do you know how it goes for French psychiatry? Comics ?
!I have to admit to not knowing much about psychiatry in France.
!!
- What does it mean for you the acronym “EPSM” ?!
!Er… No idea. Sorry.
!!
- What are your plans now?
!I’m working on a book called Supercrash: Ayn Rand and the New Right, which is about the
2008 financial crisis and the long rise of neoliberal politics in the Western world. It
contains a biography of the libertarian thinker Ayn Rand and an overview of her influence
on modern politics, a detailed breakdown of the causes of the financial crisis and its
results, and a look at conservatives and liberal psychology and how this translates into
political policy. The book will be out later this year in the UK, and should eventual be
published in France by Editions çà et là who also publish Psychiatric Tales.
!!
!!
En français :
!Choisissez un dessin pour illustrer votre interview, cela déterminera un axe de parole…
!- Pourquoi avoir choisi ce dessin ?
!- Pouvez-vous nous expliquer comment la BD a été un « retour à la vie » (titre du dernier
paragraphe de Fables psychiatriques) ?
!- C’est le web qui vous a permis d’être reconnu en tant qu’artiste, notamment avec vos
planches sur les personnages célèbres atteints de troubles mentaux : Brian Wilson, Nick
Drake, Winston Churchill ou encore l’actrice Judy Garland ?
!- Quels ont été les effets de la parution des Fables, et de sa traduction en plusieurs
langues ?
!- Gardez-vous un bon souvenir de ton travail en psy ?
!- Cela vous a-t-il permis de connaître le milieu de la psychiatrie français ? de la BD ?
!- Que signifie EPSM pour vous si toutefois cela signifie quelque chose ?
!- Quels sont vos projets actuels ?
!
!