MAX THE VIRUS PORTRAITS

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Marc Craig is embarking on an ambitious project to create a massive mural on the ceiling of Leake Street, located beneath Waterloo Station. For this endeavor, he plans to collaborate with 52 individuals. Each participant will be turned into  digital portraits featuring his iconic character, Max The Virus. These digital creations will then be transformed into physical murals along the walls of Leake Street, where Marc is the current Artist in Residence.

Adding a collaborative twist to the project, each of the 52 collaborators will also use an AI art platform to design a superhero virus character. These characters will accompany Max The Virus in a sprawling mural on the ceiling, turning it into a vibrant public art display.

Marc Craig's "When the Bough Breaks" represents a year-long daily visual exploration of his experiences with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

May is Borderline Personality Disorder awareness month. It even has a ribbon apparently, oddly grey consider how vibrant those emotions can get.

I have had quite the journey with my mental health, some very challenging times but also some victories. Case in point I was 12 years sober/clean on 29th April, woohoo! 

It was somewhat of an upgrade at the beginning of this year when I finally got the right diagnosis for what had been availing me for so long which was Borderline Personality Disorder. In short my emotions are sometimes plugged into The National Grid daily and I go through extremes, changing from euphoric highs to crippling lows, very quickly. That is a crass and overtly simple explanation considering how complex and individual each person is when they present with BPD but for me, at it’s core, is intense emotional experiences.

Think aggressive rollercoaster that should have long been decommissioned that gives you whiplash on the first turn! 

I have often heard people say we should talk more about mental health and be more open, but it is obviously not as easy as that. I am adept at being the prime driver of my own stigma. Shame, confusion, misunderstanding etc are great ingredients for staying silent. And silence is a great force for compounding issues already in place.

So I have decided to dip my toes in the deeper end of the pool and be creative with this “thing” I have called BPD. I have spent the whole of April creating daily images based on haikus I have created describing how I am feeling each day. Haikus are great because they are powerful in their simplicity and it would seem are great word prompts for AI art platforms. The more surreal the prompts the better and the resulting images I have worked on in my style. You can see the exhibition by clicking the link.

Each month I will show the daily artworks in an online exhibition format starting with April.. The project is called WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS because it is when you hit rock bottom or brick walls that you realise how resilient and courageous you can be. 

Content is obviously deliberately vague as there has to be an element of privacy (haha some days can be feisty!) but essentially I am going to translate some of these daily creations into murals at Leake Street and see if I can create a healthy level of dialogue around mental health. It all starts with a conversation.