Hearing Voices

About

The hearing of voices has spiritual and cultural implications historically, not just through accounts of the lives of the saints and hermits but reaching far beyond into prehistory. Largely because of the stigma and taboo associated with ?abnormal? mind experiences and mental health issues today we seldom have a chance to consider the visionary and creative potential in the phenomenon of voice-hearing. The intention with the launch of this booklet is to promote interest and discussion about hearing voices as something much more than a ?pathological? experience.

As a visual artist attempting to understand what it is like to live with voices, Susan has listened to people talk about their experiences. Also drawing on published accounts of voice-hearers and seminal texts she has made a series of 14 drypoints reflecting what she has heard and read. The images come together with extracts from interviews with voice-hearers in a publication that takes the form of a CD booklet, suggested by the idea of images given to accompany an auditory experience 'they leak through me: a visual exploration of auditory hallucination'