Photos taken by contributor millrick, a man who has been living in Toronto, Ontario, for the past 35 years. Rick has been living with a mood disorder for his entire adult life. Despite being well educated and well employed, Rick’s illness caused him to lose everything that was important to him, except his self-identity as a ‘Mad Artist’. Now that Rick has the privilege of working with others who are also exploring the intersection of creativity and mental illness, he feels more at ease in the world.

About these photos: “On Christmas Eve I was feeling nothing but despair. My government disability benefits had just been cut off and it seemed as if I was going to lose my part-time job as well. Visiting with my family was turning out to be detrimental…

My family lives near a large river and I walked towards it with nothing but dark thoughts in my head. However, the riverside was so unexpectedly beautiful that my despair lifted. I composed a few images on my smartphone and walked back into the world feeling a little less desperate.”

Find more from mill rick at his flickr.

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