For the Health of Planet Ice Cream
Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
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Aim
I am raising funds for my healthcare and the health of my creative project, Planet Ice Cream.
For the Health of Planet Ice Cream
A fundraiser for my health and the health and future of Planet Ice Cream.
Hi, my name is Amy South, I'm an artist and curator living in Newcastle, and I'm in the process of creating something called Planet Ice Cream. You can see me in the photo holding the ice cream that gave me the idea in 2024, it was Coffee Martini flavour!
Planet Ice Cream is an art and research project - exploring creativity, health and self empowerment, through art and collaboration. It takes many different forms, including video, podcast, art exhibitions and workshops.
I have some exciting plans and collaborations in the pipeline, but ongoing health challenges are making it difficult for me to continue working. With support, I’ll be able to better care for my health while continuing to build Planet Ice Cream, in a healthy and sustainable way.
In many ways, it already feels like a dream come true, to be at this point now, where I'm enlivened by creative possibilities, collaborations and new ideas.
I just need a bit of help to get back on my feet, to access healthcare support and learn new skills, and to take the next steps in creating Planet Ice Cream.
This fundraiser will help me access health support and treatment.
If I am able to raise the funds for my healthcare, a stretch target will support the practical development of Planet Ice Cream.
Whether you take the time to read this, share it with your networks or a friend, or are in a position to donate, I thank you for your support.
In return for donations, there awaits rewards, in the form of limited edition and one of a kind artworks, by me and my late Dad, alongside an exclusive early viewing of ‘The Museum of Universes’ - a story written by Patrick Snape and narrated by Matt Cummins.
Read on to hear about where Planet Ice Cream came from, where it's going, how you can be a part of the journey, and the rewards available to you.
Visit my website to claim your reward! www.amysouth.co.uk
Where did Planet Ice Cream come from?
Planet Ice Cream came from a need to survive, and a desire to create something meaningful and beneficial, for myself and others.
Anyone who knows me knows I've always been very driven and passionate about the art, but when I lost my mum to heroin addiction and mental health in 2015, things got really difficult. I was in my final year of uni. I took on a gap year and pushed through, but as anyone who has experienced grief, particularly tragic grief like suicide, knows, at some point its going to hit. And it did. I worked through it best I could, and was getting better, and then in 2021, during the pandemic, I lost my dad to cancer.
Through all of this, and even before, art and the creative process have been the things what have helped me survive and keep moving forward.
After my dad’s cancer diagnosis in 2020, I started taking my creative practice more seriously, as a form of support. I was approaching art, grief and health together with curiosity and asking, “What might help? What happens if I try this?”
From asking questions like “What does life after death look like?” to help process my grief, to creating works like ‘My Dad’s Apple’ to support my dad’s cancer care. To completing an art therapy course, alongside a business course in 2025, to support the future development of Planet Ice Cream.
Slowly, this creative process has helped me move from years of utter suicidal hopelessness towards a place of imagination, possibility and joy! Planet Ice Cream grew from that process, and I feel that through Planet Ice Cream this creativity and joy can grow.
Let me share a couple of examples of art projects that have helped me
My Dad’s Apple
Here's a photo of my dad looking at the apples, in his exhibition at Globe Gallery, 2020.
During lockdown 2020, my dad saved an ivy-strangled apple tree from dying. The following spring, it grew one apple, which he gifted to me. Shortly after giving me the apple, he received a terminal cancer diagnosis. In need of alternative treatment, I made a cast from the apple and produced a series of technicolour apple sculptures, which my dad and I titled ‘My Dad’s Apple’.
Through these works, I raised £9,000 towards his cancer care, followed by a retrospective exhibition at Globe Gallery titled ‘The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far’, which my dad was able to visit shortly before he died - a dream come true for both of us.
For me, the Apple became a palpable symbol of hope, determination and of regeneration in challenging and uncertain times.
I've created a new series of ‘My Dad's Apple’ sculptures, available to you through this fundraiser. This new series are earthy, and some of them sparkle.
(See the apples and other rewards available here.)
And here we are looking around his exhibition, 2020.
What Does Life After Death Look Like?
In 2023, I asked the question, ‘What Does Life After Death Look Like?’, and curated the responses from 50 artists in an exhibition. A touching and at times, subtly disrupting and mind-bending host of artistic forms and perspectives, including art workshops and participatory performances that explored grief, life and death. In words and through art, the exhibition became a space for conversations that we don't always get to have. The exhibition became an important milestone for me, it evolved the way I process grief and offered me the real possibility of building something positive -- Planet Ice Cream.
Where is Planet Ice Cream going?
I'd describe Planet Ice Cream as an art and research project - exploring creativity, health and self empowerment, through art and collaboration.
It takes many different forms, including video, podcast, art exhibitions and workshops.
More than anything, it is an environment that allows me to function and thrive, and encourages others to do the same.
In real terms, this has included:
- Collaborating with artists, writers and musicians to create and share work through different on and offline platforms
- Developing ‘Planet Ice Cream mini-courses’ and events with specialists across creative, therapeutic and spiritual fields
- An experimental video podcast (@planet_icecream_podcast - instagram)
The future vision includes:
- An experimental podcast exploring creativity, health and self-empowerment
- Collaborative creative processes and mini courses
- An online shop for artworks
- Exhibitions and workshops
- Potentially, in the future… an alternative art school!
I know that sounds like a lot! But, it just really feels like the right thing to be doing!
I see Planet Ice Cream as the vehicle, the space, the opportunity; that supports me in rebuilding my physical and mental health, that gives me and my creativity purpose, and offers me the chance to build long term financial independence, so that one day I won't need to rely on fundraising for my healthcare.
My Health
Alongside all the fun and possibility of creative work, I’ve also been dealing with ongoing health challenges, including chronic exhaustion, hormonal diagnosis, skin conditions and stress-related conditions.
Years of PTSD (stemming from childhood exposure to violence and heroin and alcohol addiction), stress and grief have had an undeniable impact on my physical health and my ability to work sustainably, and I am continuing to struggle to access the support I need through GP referral or the NHS.
I’m continuing to learn what my body needs, and through research, conversations with my GP and private consultations, I’ve found approaches that could really support my health, including:
- Functional nutrition and testing.
- Somatic trauma therapy (eg. EMDR.)
These approaches look at the relationship between body and mind together, holistically - something that feels essential for my overall health.
On a practical level: when I am unwell, I am unproductive. If I want to build something meaningful and consistent, that can support and encourage both myself and others, I need to begin with my health.
Writers such as Gabor Maté have explored the relationship between emotional stress, creativity and physical health. I like this quote:
“Everyone has an urge to create. Its expression may flow through many channels… The point is to honour the urge. To do so is healing for ourselves and for others; not to do so deadens our bodies and our spirits.”
and this,
"There is excessive documentation of the inhibiting effect of chronic stress on the immune system."
From Gabor Maté's book, ‘When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress’. (See references for this book, and health and art project links at the bottom of this page.)
Physical health, eh? It affects everything, and can be a truly miserable experience. Mental health too, it can be so all-consuming. It has been for me.
I really want to give myself a fighting chance - to get better, to build a life, and to have the energy to build a business and to create art! Planet Ice Cream is helping me move in that direction, and that's what this fundraiser is really about. Now, I am asking for your support.
Where the Funds Will Go
If I don’t reach the full amount, funds will be prioritised in the following order:
- Functional nutritionist support, plus recommended testing and supplements - £3,000
- Trauma / Somatic therapy (EMDR, CBT) - £3000
- Ongoing health support including acupuncture, somatic therapy and dermatology - £1600
- Toward Post and Packaging costs for this fundraiser - £400
If I reach the target for my health, a stretch target will be launched to support the practical development of Planet Ice Cream.
This support will help me improve my health and gain life long health care skills, helping me to take steps toward building the foundations of a sustainable creative practice and business.
How You Can Support
If you feel able, your donation will help me access the care and support I need while continuing to build Planet Ice Cream.
I understand many of us are feeling the financial squeeze tighten its grip, if donating isn’t possible, sharing this fundraiser helps just as much! Thank you!
The Exchange
Click here to visit the artwork rewards page
In exchange for donations, I’m offering a selection of artworks by myself and my late dad.
In my work, you’ll find themes of hope, recovery, life and death, and in my dad’s work, abstraction and colour prevail. For my dad, painting was a form of meditation, although he never used those words. He used to sit for hours, often through the night, looking at his painting in progress. He’d say if I squint my eyes, I might start to see what he was seeing. Often, he’d play his guitar while gazing at the works, creating strange, dissonant tones that would gradually form into unheard-of harmonics. His works are still revealing themselves.
I believe each artwork contains its own unique gift for the person who receives it.
As a thank you to all donors, an exclusive early viewing of ‘The Museum of Universes’ will be shared after the fundraiser ends.
Written by Patrick Snape, narrated by Matt Cummins, produced by Gavin Richards of Oakriver Studios and featuring an original soundtrack by Patrick Snape, The Museum of Universes is a story born through grief and imagination - a place said to contain a wealth of universes.
Please note: Selecting a reward in exchange for your donation is optional but encouraged!
Thank You!
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope my sharing some of these personal experiences, both the difficult and the self-empowering, can be helpful for anyone suffering in silence.
Thank you for any support you’re able to give, whether that be a share with your networks, a friend or a donation.
If you’d like to ask me any questions about this fundraiser, the artworks on offer, or Planet Ice Cream, I’d be very happy to hear from you. You can contact me at [email protected]
Planet Ice Cream was born of grief, survival, curiosity and creativity. With support, I believe it can continue growing into something meaningful not only for myself, but for others too.
With love and thanks,
Amy South
Testimonials for Planet Ice Cream
“Amy’s Planet Ice Cream has offered me an opportunity to reignite my music career. Working on The Museum of Universes has allowed me to rediscover imagination and find relief from the stress and sadness of losing my friend through dementia.
Amy’s ability to listen and provide thoughtful encouragement has been a major part of that process. After grief and burnout, Planet Ice Cream is helping me find healing and a new creative direction. I wholeheartedly believe in Planet Ice Cream.”
- Patrick Snape
Matt has been creating to open up and support his relationship with his physical health conditions:
“Dusk shifts quickly into dark, and the Path comes to life into my body, like the music of the birdsong and the shifting tensions in my muscles as I walk. This is the purpose of [this work]: to allow changing light and sounds become embodied, to provide a space, a walking observation.
For ages this had just been an idea, a dream. Planet Ice cream, via the DIY/MFA, provided another dreamer, allowing it to become embodied. [This work] is a Path that simply is, and the ground on which it sits is the Universe that is Planet Ice cream, and the experiences - the “doings” - demanded by the DIY/MFA.
(DIY/MFA - Do It Yourself Masters Degree in Fine Art, initially guided by Amy.)”
- Matt Cummins
The Collection - Rewards Available
As part of this fundraiser, supporters have access to a selection of prints and original artworks by both me and my dad. You can explore the rewards currently available by visiting my website - www.amysouth.co.uk
Estimated delivery: December 2026 (or earlier)
I am currently creating the remaining My Dad's Apple sculptures, so some rewards will become available over the coming months. I may also add new artworks to this collection as the fundraiser progresses.
All rewards are optional gifts offered in thanks for supporting For the Health of Planet Ice Cream.
Please visit my website, view the artworks, and fill in the form to select your artwork. - www.amysouth.co.uk
As a thank you to all donors, an exclusive early viewing of The Museum of Universes will also be shared after the fundraiser ends.
Thank you for supporting my health and the health of Planet Ice Cream.
References and links:
Gabor Maté - When the Body Says No: The Hidden Cost of Stress
A review of 'When the Body Says No'
The Apple Doesn't Fall Far
- globegallery.org/portfolio-item/the-apple-doesnt-fall-far/
What Does Life After Death Look Like?
- Once Upon a Time there was an Exhibition - Life After Death
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 27th August 2026 at 12:08pm