My name is Danei Edelen and I am President of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Brown County affiliate. I am also a person living with a mental illness. As many of you know, I have been drawing daily as a coping skill for COVID-19 and as a part of my recovery for three hospitalizations in 2019. In the face of COVID-19, I chose to focus something positive and creative— learn to draw. At first, I was not sure I could do it, then it became a Facebook game, and a lot of you participated! Next thing you know, I had been drawing for 50 days! For 50 days, I have been letting my art speak for me.
Today, I am grieving for our country. As we are trying to learn the “new normal” for living with a global pandemic, once again, people are protesting in our streets because of injustice. According to theconversation, we are facing a looming mental health crisis as well. We are all struggling.
I am a big fan of Brene’ Brown. She gave me the courage to speak and write about my mental illness. “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”
“Do a self-portrait”, a Facebook friend said when I started my latest “Drawing by Request” project. “You wouldn’t like it,” I thought to myself. I drew my first self-portrait in my first art class when I was doing a job I hated. I spent the entire weekend working on it. In that picture, I expressed all my anger, rage, and frustration at being expected to act one way, when I felt like someone completely different. It is not a pretty picture.
Today, I feel compelled to speak out. But, to say and do what? I am just a Midwestern white woman in the heartland of this country that struggles with a mental illness daily. Then, I remembered the words of Duane Hanson, “Art doesn’t have to be pretty. It has to be meaningful.”
To all the grieving, hurting, angry people that have suffered injustice in this country, I give you my self-portrait. I pray that you realize you are not alone in your suffering. I pray that despite our differences, through my self-portrait you can see our shared humanity. I pray that it can speak to your soul where words cannot.
Mental Health Warrior 