Mad Truth

Aged seventeen, I dropped out of college where I was studying film, following this I experienced a prolonged period of severe mental health challenges mentioned above. Within the context of my upbringing this was not a surprise. I came from  crumbling council accommodation, living on benefits, with my mum having her own physical and mental health difficulties and my older brother has severe autism. There is currently a mental health crisis worldwide, in my experience this suffering arises from an inability to recognise, communicate and process trauma. I found I could do all these things, through the medium of authentic and honest creative self expression. I come from a low socio-economic background filled with violence, addiction, trauma, and a deep confusion based around class, identity, and the trials of everyday living. I spent most of my childhood and early adolescence being rushed in and out of rooms speaking to social workers, teachers and so on. These services are now no longer available at a time when people need them the most, and the only means to access these services is through unaffordable and inaccessible private entities. At a time when people need it most, they are cast out into the cold by the very systems that were designed to protect and support them. I’m a aware that the way we address anxiety, sadness, alienation and so on, is to look it dead in the eye and recognising our own strength, our own power in that act. 

Aged 18, I started attending a local youth centre where I was blessed to meet a man called Errol. I was starting to be creative and write music around this time, but I was afflicted by low self esteem and such a lack of confidence that I had trouble maintaining eye contact and keeping a conversation going. Errol was from Jamaica originally and would tell me about the power of music in that culture and art more broadly - I was fascinated by the socially aware aspects of certain art movements and they impact that they still have on society today. One day I brought my guitar to the youth centre and much to my horror Errol goes “right, play me something’. I struggle through this song I’d written and I finish - embarrassed and ashamed my gaze was firmly fixed on the floor. However, Errol brought me up with his eye contact and said something I’ll never forget “yeah, you’ve got something there”. And that single piece of encouragement changed my life forever - a month later I was getting in front of crowds and singing my heart out because I had to. If I can do the same for somebody else, my upbringing will have come full circle.  Since then Mad Truth has become established, being featured in New Art Exchange, collaborating with the Mayor of Broxtowe on a film celebrating the work of  local homeless charity this will premiere at the ARC cinema on their biggest screen in September 2022. Mad Truth has published books, released multiple albums, created a poetry anthology (fly don’t fall) and an accompanying launch event / exhibition and is now working on a new exhibition for December ‘I dedicate my life to peace’. And so much more.

Mad Truth is an arts organistion based around the power of creative expression for improving mental health and promoting personal growth. The idea being - creative expression can be used as a remarkable tool for re-framing tragedy, trauma and mental illness, in a way where these things no longer keep us from becoming our best selves but instead, they become a source of beauty, strength and resilience. The highs and lows of mental health is something that I'm deeply and intimately familiar with, I have a PTSD diagnosis and the catalyst for starting Mad Truth at eighteen was a nervous breakdown. My story is my own, but I am one of many, there is currently a mental health crisis world wide- but I was shown through mentorship and compassion by people that saw something shining in me that I could not articulate or recognise in myself. I was taught that if I could externalise what I was going through, get that energy down onto a canvas (be that physical or metaphorical) a kind of alchemy takes place and suddenly something so beautiful is born out of something so dark and difficult. 

Mad Truth uses higher creativity for healing, deeper understanding of ourselves and as a tool for our individual and societal growth, moving forward from a past filled with turmoil into a future that is bright, open and accessible to all. This model is applicable to education, youth work, commerce and corporations alike. Because it's hard being human, I know that through the trails and tribulations I have lived through in my own life, but mental health is about perspective and so we can use the arts in whatever exciting and innovative forms they manifest to change that perspective, and to change the lives first of individuals, then communities and our society more broadly.

Business aims -

To use creative practices combined with therapeutic and mindfulness techniques to encourage well being and personal growth in communities. 

To establish a true multi-purpose art space - Truth Gallery. Truth Gallery will be part music studio, film studio, youth center, art gallery, sound-stage where we can work with young aspiring creatives aged 16-26, professional and ammeter alike to exhibit work that is in line with Mad Truth’s core values and also serves to give people a creative voice and a loud one at that. 

To cross the lines of art, spirituality, mental health, social work etc. To bypass the red tape found so often in our system that infringes upon the person-hood of individuals and treats them like numbers on a screen. To instill spaces and communities with colour, vibrancy and hope.