David Parkin

The Proper Mental Podcast

Welcome to episode 147 with David Parkin is an author, theatre maker and installation artist whose work is fiercely autobiographical or silly and speculative.

In 2015 he suffered his first manic episode and was sectioned under the mental health act for 4 months.

He is currently putting on a fully immersive art installation called ‘Delusions of Grandeur’ which explains his experience of being sectioned including his diaries from that time, recorded conversations from his friends and family and loads of anecdotes from his time in hospital.

In this episode I chat to David about his experiences with mental illness and how he ended up being sectioned.

We chat about his time in hospital, what it was like day to day and some of the things that happened and we chat about what life was like once he was discharged and some of the artistic projects he’s worked on since that are all mental health focused.

David also takes me through his recovery from a life-threatening brain injury that he had after jumping off the roof of a mental health hospital and many more incredible stories from his life.

David has some incredible stories and he was so much fun to chat to! I love the idea of his installation and how he can use it to offer an insight in to being sectioned which is still a part of the mental health conversation that is not widely discussed or understood.

You can learn more about where to see David’s work here: www.davidparkin.org

You can follow him on social media @davidparkinartist

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Thanks for listening!