TRIGGER WARNING - THIS CONTENT RELATES TO MENTAL ILLNESS AND SUICIDE. IF THIS CONTENT AFFECTS YOU, PLEASE STEP AWAY, BREATHE, AND SEEK HELP AND SUPPORT.

OR REACH OUT TO HEATHER ON HEATHER@WACKYZINE.COM (MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AIDER)

The digital illustration which will be on the cover of the upcoming Masculinity Issue of Wacky Zine, is of my father, Mark, who suffered from Bipolar Disorder until he died by suicide aged 49. The image is my imagined depiction of three extreme emotional stages I imagine he experienced during manic episodes, reflecting the dark and manic states of mind the mental illness took him to.

Through my research into mental illness and finding ways to visually illustrate it, I found myself trying to get into the head of my father to make sense of my overwhelming grief after losing my father by his own hand. Wacky was born in 2020 to raise awareness for mental health, but also help sufferers cope with their own struggles with mental health through Wacky. I became obsessed by this visual of the multiple-faced headdress as the perfect symbol for mental illness, specifically Bipolar after seeing my father’s dramatic mood and personality changes during manic episodes. This symbol of the multiple face or mask has appeared throughout creative history in artists’ costume designs, sculptures, such as Salvador Dali, Billy Eilish and Heidi Jïeun Jouet.

The Masculinity Issue is the issue through which Wacky analyses mental illness in men, try to understand more about such a stigmatised topic which affects all of us. Wacky also aims to raise awareness for the high levels of mental illness and suicide in young men, and start conversations and alternative thinking that aims to take on the mammoth task of telling society that it’s ok not to be ok, especially for men. My father’s suicide was a tragic and sudden loss, and I want to help stop others like my father from losing their lives. Statistics tell us men are in danger, from themselves - but also because of the stigma that surrounds mental health for men. Men are choosing to die more than they choose to seek help and open up their mind, for fear of what society will think of them, and for fear of their employers in particular finding out they are less than perfect.

Many men have been told to believe all their lives that to show deep emotion is to show weakness, to let go of the mask of strength, pride, unwavering bravery, would be to fail, to burden others or worse change how others view us. We all often avoid allowing ourselves us to be vulnerable and stripped of our carefully constructed costume of how we want others to see us. For many reasons like supporting and raising a family men often don’t feel they have the opportunity to veer off the track of what society expects of us, to pick a ‘different’ career. As a result creativity is crushed in many people after they leave childhood, and lose sight of our purpose. Wacky encourages you to tap into your purpose through creativity, colour, self-expression and humour to decode mental ill health and normalise conversations to one day reduce the stigma and and society’s view of ‘mental health and illness’.

Currently interviewing for the Masculinity Issue, please get in touch for more information.

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