Felicity Clarke
After a life-changing workplace accident whose tendrils wove their way into her life to leave more than just a permanent physical disability, Felicity Clarke began to create a series of works inspired by colourful patterns created using thermal imaging of the brain.
Suffering workplace bullying and harassment because of the accident and a near-death experience from mismanagement of her symptoms, Felicity never returned to formal work and lives with anxiety and severe and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as chronic regional pain syndrome.
“It was horrible at the time…I have been through some very dark times and my art reflected that in the early days. My friends said I suddenly started working with a lot darker colours – they were used to me working with organic tones and natural sort of imagery,” she said.
“It’s also where I learnt, because mental health is an invisible disease, because people can’t see it, they don’t want to recognise it, even those closest to you.”
Felicity describes the turning point for her as reaching out for help.
“I have always been extremely independent, so asking for help was really hard for me. A mental health organisation I reached out to were amazing and that’s how I got into doing the current textile work.”
The process of building ADHD by Felicity Clarke
As an accomplished textile artist who had her own business for several years, Felicity feels more at home with her machine and thread than she ever does with a pencil or brush.
“I find that textiles are a bit forgiving, it’s quite mindful when you get into doing it – it’s a very rhythmic medium. I’m someone that goes to do life drawing and then I come home and stitch it on my machine.”
Her current series of works explore the inner workings of the brain, and the creative process was born out of personal experiences.
“My father had a brain tumour and we were going to the Royal Brisbane for his examinations. They were doing 3D modelling of his brain and lots of different scans –and when I saw them, I thought they are so beautiful, but about something terrible. I kind of like that juxtaposition and demonstrating the beauty in that.”
“My father unfortunately passed away eight months post-surgery, but I had all these scans from his treatment and as a homage to him I started really investigating this through my textiles. I machine embroidered the different parts of the scan, the colours, and layered them up so they were 3D,” she said.
This led Felicity into further investigations into her own brain scans and other mental illnesses and how they present in thermal imaging – the results and colours were quite surprising.
“Depression does reveal itself as blue, so you literally have ‘the blues’- there is quite a lot of beauty in that, but for the individual person it can be terrible.”
A series of brain scans brought to life through textiles by artist Felicity Clarke
“I undertook a series of different scans for an art exhibition I was part of – I did schizophrenia, bipolar and depression. On the opening night I had a profound experience, where a young lady was visibly upset in front of one of my works. I ended up going to speak with her and she shared with me that she was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 13 and she felt validated by the work as it made her illness visible and helped her to visualise what her brain may look like.”
This deeply moving interaction spurned Felicity onwards in her brain scan research and she investigated other conditions such as drug abuse, the aging brain, insomnia and other neurodivergent diagnoses such as ADHD.
“In my work I take the real scans, simplify the colours and make 3D buildable layers until the scan is replicated in textiles. When you have dementia it goes from deep purple, through to a really aubergine colour as grey matter disappears. I sold ADHD at the 2022 Recovered Futures exhibition, and it is the only condition that has a halo – it has a pink halo which is a mass of electrical energy from the hyperactivity component.”
ADHD, Felicity Clarke
“I want people to have a conversation about mental health – I’m very passionate about awareness. We are still living in a time that when you verbalise your mental health issues people cast you aside and unless you walk with an aid, like a cane, they don’t understand your physical restrictions and you are treated differently.”
“I have quite extreme PTSD - I’m bright and bubbly and I’m a talker, I could talk under water with a mouth full of marbles. Talking becomes a stress relief for me, but also people get the wrong impression – they don’t realise I’m actually really stressed, and I’ll be extremely exhausted at the end of that interaction.”
“I live with pain every day, but since getting on the NDIS five (5) years ago I am able to access regular physical therapy to manage and assist with the chronic regional pain syndrome I experience.”
Felicity Clarke is an exhibiting artist as part of the 2024 Recovered Futures Art Exhibition and will show her works The Blurred Brain Insomina and Brain Blues Depression.
Blurred Brain Insomnia, Felicity Clarke