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Melissa Diaz, Artist & Art Therapist

On this episode of Rendering Unconscious, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair interviews artist and art therapist Melissa Diaz, discussing fine art, outsider art, art therapy, mental health care, fundraising for Puerto Rico, MSD Strong and the March for Our Lives.

Melissa Diaz is an artist and a licensed, registered, board certified art therapist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a BFA in Painting from The University of Central Florida and an MPS in Art Therapy & Creativity Development from Pratt Institute. In 2010, Diaz founded, Open House BK, a community arts initiative that provides free/affordable pop-up art events, exhibitions and therapeutic arts workshops. As a Creative Arts Therapist, Diaz has experience utilizing art therapy, play therapy and mindfulness practices with adults, children and families. She has worked as a therapist and teaching artist in shelters, schools, museums, inpatient and outpatient psychiatric settings. Diaz has presented widely on the topic of art therapy application, at several institutions, including, Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, University of Central Florida, University of Wisconsin and Blick Art Materials. In her artwork, Diaz creates interactive installation art as a source of community engagement. In 2015, she was awarded a residency at The Marble House Project, there she explored the integration of installation art, art therapy and environment. She has exhibited widely throughout NYC and nationally, in both gallery and alternative spaces. In all her work, she considers space, relationships and holding environment.

For more information please visit:
melissadiazart.com
drvanessasinclair.net
dasunbehagen.org
openhousebk.com
kristinadonello.com
shrine.nyc

Art by Melissa Diaz

Music by Vanessa Sinclair & Madame Deficit
“Her Outer Dada” from the compilation album MESSAGE 23 available on highbrow-lowlife.com

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Vanessa Sinclair, Psychoanalyst

This episode of Rendering Unconscious features a rendition of a talk given by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair at NGBK Berlin entitled “Cutting up the Image of the Father/ Reconstructing the Third” as part of the exhibition “Father Figures are Hard to Find”. It is noteworthy that when referring to the “mother”, s/he is written as m/Other, referring to the mother as well as the big Other to which we all relate constantly. Along these lines, “another” is spelled an/other and refers to the other with a small o. For those of you familiar with Lacanian theory this other refers to the others that we identify with or put in the place of the object of our desire. 

For more info please visit:

drvanessasinclair.net
trapart.net
dasunbehagen.org

The track playing at the end of the episode is “Page 6.2” by Vanessa Sinclair & Carl Abrahamsson and is part of the recently released compilation album COVEN available from highbrow-lowlife.com

Artwork by Vanessa Sinclair. A book of her cut-up poetry SWITCHING MIRRORS is available through trapart.net and CHAOS OF THE THIRD MIND with artist Katelan Foisy is upcoming from Fulgur

 

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Meredith Friedson, Psychologist

On this episode of Rendering Unconscious, host Dr. Vanessa Sinclair speaks with Dr. Meredith Friedson about her new book Subjective Darkness: Depression as a Loss of Connection, Narrative, Meaning, and the Capacity for Self-Representation, as well as about the current state of the mental health system, including the treatment of depression and psychosis.

Dr. Meredith Friedson is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the state of New York (and soon to be licensed in New Jersey).  She is author of the book Subjective Darkness: Depression as a Loss of Connection, Narrative, Meaning, and the Capacity for Self-Representation (featured in this podcast) as well as the articles Subjective Darkness: Depression as a Disintegration of Meaning in the Core Narrative and Psychotherapy and the Fundamentalist Client: The Aims and Challenges of Treating Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Her areas of research include depression, trauma of all forms, the clinical treatment of schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis, loss, subjectivity, alienation, and social justice issues including the effects of police stops on Black and Latino individuals.  Meredith is drawn to clinical work with some of the most vulnerable populations and believes that her position as Psychologist is a privilege that carries with it the responsibility to treat each individual she works with humanely, with respect, dignity, and compassion.  Listening to the space between what can be said and fostering a safe place in which creativity and play can develop are vital to her approach.  Most importantly, she believes that a tremendous amount of psychological suffering comes from feeling unrecognized, misunderstood, denied, rejected, or unseen.  She therefore strives to be present with each individual and engage with them on their terms, without imposing her own views, judgments, or agenda.  Meredith is active in the academic community and has a private practice in Manhattan.  She hopes one day to teach and to create a new treatment setting for working with schizophrenic adults who have been institutionalised for many years that values their autonomy, agency, creativity, and basic human dignity.  Her professional website is meredithfriedsonphd.com and she recently started a blog there.

For more info please visit:

meredithfriedsonphd.com

drvanessasinclair.net

dasunbehagen.org

The track playing at the end of the episode is “Dark Moon” by Vanessa Sinclair & Carl Abrahamsson from their album CUT TO FIT THE MOUTH available on cassette in the US from arcanamachine.com and in the EU from trapart.net as well as digitally via  highbrow-lowlife.com

Artwork by Vanessa Sinclair. A book of her cut-up poetry SWITCHING MIRRORS is available through trapart.net and CHAOS OF THE THIRD MIND with artist Katelan Foisy is upcoming from Fulgur.

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Sharron Kraus, Musician

Rendering Unconscious presents a talk by Sharron Kraus, singer and multi-instrumentalist based in the UK. This lecture is entitled “Art as Alchemy” and was first presented at the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult conference in London, May 2016. The Fenris Wolf volume 9 – an anthology of the collected papers from the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult conference can be found at trapart.net

For more info please visit:
www.sharronkraus.com
www.drvanessasinclair.net
www.dasunbehagen.org
www.trapart.net

The track playing at the end of the episode is “Nightmare” by Sharron Kraus and is included in the recently released compilation album COVEN available from highbrow-lowlife.com

Artwork by Vanessa Sinclair. A book of her cut-up poetry SWITCHING MIRRORS is available through trapart.net and CHAOS OF THE THIRD MIND with artist Katelan Foisy is upcoming from Fulgur.

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Ray O’Neill, Psychoanalyst

Rendering Unconscious presents a talk by Dr. Ray O’Neill, a psychoanalyst practicing in Dublin, Ireland. This talk is entitled “Double Double, Toil and Trouble, Psychoanalysis Burn and Surrealism Bubble” and was first presented at the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult conference in London, May 2016. In this episode, Dr. O’Neill addresses the Double in psychoanalysis and surrealism, specifically through a Lacanian look at the work of Salvador Dali. The Fenris Wolf volume 9 – an anthology of the collected papers from the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult conference, including Dr. O’Neill’s paper – can be found at trapart.net

For more info please visit:
drvanessasinclair.net
dasunbehagen.org

The track playing at the end of the episode is titled “A Spell” from the album CUT TO FIT THE MOUTH by Vanessa Sinclair & Carl Abrahamsson available from: highbrow-lowlife.com

Artwork by Vanessa Sinclair. A book of her cut-up poetry SWITCHING MIRRORS is available through trapart.net and CHAOS OF THE THIRD MIND with artist Katelan Foisy is upcoming from Fulgur.