Its My Life

The photograph above is of a painting that Didi finished in about 1999 when she was 30 years old. The painting was undertaken using inks, highligher pen, Caran d'Ache crayons and water, and pen and ink. The painting itself is very large - too big to scan, hence the sadly rather poor quality photograph

Having read the text re the previous two paintings, "Demons Of The Mind" and "Vibes", you can perhaps see that this is just another pictorial representation of what it is like to have Bipolar Disorder, The face is Didi's - split into two to reaveal the book of "It's My Life" inside. The face on the left is the miserable Didi - the despressive phase of Bipolar Disorder. And of course, the imagery in the book are meant to lend credence to this - the skeleton - not meant to represent Didi's "Phaedrus" this time, but simply death and destruction, a river with blood flowing down it, fire, the tree on that side is dead, and lightening and blood and saline rain coming from the brain on the left. The face on the right is the happy Didi - the upturn phase of Bipolar Disorder. Again, the imagery reflects this: leaves on the tree, a wise owl, a horse (for Didi who loves horses, they always represent happiness and contentment), a rabbit which symbolises playfullness, and a nice clean river devoid of blood! Hell, there are even birds flying in the sky and the sun is out - what more could Didi ask for!

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