MANICFESTO
This is only a 2 year glimpse into my experience with manic depression from June of 2017 to May of 2019.
Imagine a lifetime.
Imagine going through this not from a place of privilege.
MANICFESTO: my alter ego a la Samo/Basquiat, Questlove/Ahmir K. Thompson, Cindi Mayweather/Janelle Monae, Lady Gaga, and Sasha Fierce/Beyoncé
This are the projects that help as I (still) struggle.
Design by Nicole Stubbs - Nicole's Portfolio - IG: @zakiyastubbs
Witness Statement: Graphic Novel Panels
Job is for 3 pages, with 7 total scenes.
Page 1 it would be only one scene, 2 on page 2 and 3 on page 3 - i like that progression as well which helps portray the speed with which everything was ramping up during the episode
Scenes/Panels are based on audio below of me talking about the experience to a friend 3months after being forcibly institutionalized- and brought into Harlem Hospital after being assaulted by the NYPD. (link below)
Page 1: Black and white background and the only thing in color is my dress (red/black/white- see attachments of actual dress- which i will be wearing at the event where these panels will be premiered) . My photos from 2017 are also attached. Panels of walking- like David Mazzucchelli where the character is big and the path he walked is small (see attachment) - maybe have the path styles look like the Bill from family circus (see attachments)- where one color path is my walking path from the Bronx to Randall’s island, and another color path is the emergency services taking me all the way up to Harlem hospital scattered throughout the map are QR codes (of different sizes) leading to a scrolling feed of all the tweets I made leading up to that day& the IG cake mental health post
Page 2 - phases of the scuffle 1st scene - where in the audio I talk about how I contorted myself to attach myself to the railing - i will draw a sketch but basically i wrapped my arms backwards around the top rail, curved my back and sat on the lower rail, and hooked my knees so securely that the cops had a hard time pulling me off.
2nd scene where i crawled under the cop car and was pulled out from under/dragged by my feet- leaving two symmetrical gashes on my cheekbones
Page 3- where the yellow demarcates each scene (see attached) upper left: scene of my on my hands and knees scrubbing under the water fountain in the hospital (should have a broken payphone in the background middle scene: being held down by 4 people and forcibly injected- i want this to be as realistic as possible to convey the trauma last bottom right scene: me having to LIFT my head with my hands to set it on a table so I could look at my mom because of the heavy tranquilizing effect of the meds.
2. Future Project: “What’s Your Room Number?”- Dr. Francis Butler, MD
'What's Your Room Number?' asked Dr Francis Butler as I walked into the consult room in the psych ward.
He had no idea who I was.
Even though I had been his patient for years.
Even though he had billed my insurance company well over $200K during my time as his patient; the lion's share coming from him administering ECT (electroshock).
The Mayo clinic recommends 6-12 total ECT sessions. I had at least 77 sessions over the course of July of 2018- May of 2019.
I didn't stop even though I had trouble formulating sentences .
I only stopped because I bit through my tongue during my 3rd seizure in 15 days.
And the price I paid was long term memory loss of anything before May of 2019.
This piece will be comprised of the 77 ECT consent slips I signed, even when I couldn’t speak, fashioned into the shape of a storm sail.
3. Aliens!!! - Animated Short
Premise
You are an alien. You are currently fixated by the explosive, extensive, news cycle seeing that your kind has been confirmed to be real by the population of The Humanoids on Planet Earth.
Everyone you know has gathered around this event like a communal, virtual, intergalactic World Cup where everything was thrown into a tizzy just because some underdogs just pulled of a glorious upset.
Everyone has an opinion about whether this is an absolute atrocity, never to be overcome; to those are utterly relieved and believe that interspecies collaboration can save Earth and preserve the knowledge The Hummanoids managed to accomplish, despite their archaic technology and the feeble meat sacks their spirits were housed in.
To only have 100 years during a Humanoid’s lifespan, a mere century, to figure how to communicate across language dialect systems, computational processes of consuming information, technical limitations, and available (dwindling) resources...it wasn't enough. Having to start from zero with another sentient entity was not an efficient method of gathering knowledge.
And time is running out.
According to my calculations, the paths between the collision of Earth on its current trajectory, and destruction is all but inevitable.
And each energy shift caused by toxic decay of not just the land/water/air, but the spirits of humankind as well accelerates our speed as we barrel towards to their demise.
All of us are enraptured by what is happening, what it means, how are our loved ones who are working on this mission are handling it, if those of us on the ground will be safe and successful in their quest?
Luckily, each of us now have the equivalent of what a brain wearable would do, but it is implanted in each of our skulls, much like a reverse trephination ; which allows the tracking our various brain frequencies. That is, if someone decides to be online.
And let me tell you, the sheer volume of increasingly intense frequency readings is reaching heights we've never seen before.
Those who we have managed to reach, both Humanoids and our own, to varying degrees, can now feel that things are shifting.
We have managed in the past to get through to Humanoids via artists, philosophers and scientists.
However; those in power on Planet Earth are beginning to narrow in their focus on silencing anyone not preaching conformity & capitalism.
There are communal gatherings on both continuums - movement (both physical and mental) and people (both virtual & physical), and connecting with what it feels like to be fully present.
We somehow- dispute our vast differences in available technology and resources, have created the same structure we sway in front of as a collective when we gather.
We call it Arcanum.
It is in the shape of a humanoid dendrite, in the shape of living organism called a tree.
They managed to capture our 3-dimensional continuums in the way this is built and the places where they exist in their physical world.
Everyone at these gatherings wears masks: they as Us, and Us as them. <grammatical style in the sentence above is intentional>
A communal catharsis.
Energy is shifting.
Electricity fissions everywhere.
short animation/GIFs (would LOVE if Lee/@Erma.Fiend would collab) like ripping pages out of the whole book (idea adapted from Marian Bantjes valentines project)
Only shares a PART of the idea, visually. But because you have audio that continues, fills in the gaps of what you hear but do not see, you imagine. What do you see when you can only hear?
Jist- engagement
Create stop motion/animations that can be saved/remixed/memed MP4s?
Audio recording of me reading screenplay/script (how does one write a screenplay for an animated film?)
make all audio available for remixes/adaptations/ Merch & Lore - ask for 13% of any earnings from their work.
make a social media filter and see where it hits a nerve.
