I began working as a mental health peer specialist in 2015. Peer specialists are people who have lived experience with utilizing psychiatric services, and they work in mental health settings to provide empathy and respect to others in “the system.”

Becoming a peer transformed my life. My schizoaffective disorder no longer became a source of shame, but rather an opportunity for mobilizing with others, demanding dignity in the face of oppressive services. This experience also led me to discover the work of Issa Ibrahim, an artist who has created incredible paintings throughout his decades-long battle with mental illness and the isolation of institutionalization. Here is our interview:

The Link Between Issa Ibrahim’s Artwork and Mental Illness

As I lurked on Facebook, chatting with various peer advocates in New York, I saw Issa’s paintings and heard bits of his story of having been hospitalized at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center for almost 20 years. Creedmoor. It’s a state psychiatric facility in Queens, which has long-term psychiatric units and also forensic units. I have worked with people who have lived on its campus, and I know it’s not a pretty place.

As an artist struggling with mental illness, Issa created purpose in his life at Creedmoor by utilizing the facility’s “Living Museum,” a massive art studio available for use by patients, residents and staff. He was featured in The Living Museum, an HBO documentary from 1998. This 10-minute segment shows many of his works:

Fighting Institutionalization by Painting Heroism

Living in a hospital is highly demotivating. There is little stimulation beyond meals, standing in line to get your medications, and group therapy sessions. To pass time, it’s easy to just lay in bed all day. For exercise, you walk up and down the hallways. You’re lucky if there’s a ping-pong table. You have no access to a cell phone, nor a computer with an internet connection. (Short-term units usually permit neither.) While the outside world continues at its pace, life on a unit makes time stand still.

For me, I take hospitalization as an opportunity to live a life of hermitude. I contemplate and write avidly in journals, which allows me to retain dignity while isolated. Real tragedy happens when people (staff and patients both) violate your personhood, in this environment that you can’t escape. Having your belongings stolen or confiscated, harassment, bullying, molestations, tormenting. Providers, refusing to acknowledge your input when prescribing medications that don’t work. Institutions, breaking laws that are put in place to ensure a patient’s protection.

Issa created art while living in this environment for almost two decades. It was a form of art therapy. His paintings force us to acknowledge that those locked away have beliefs, opinions, talents and dignity. These basic elements of human identity are often erased out of a person who is institutionalized or incarcerated.

Superheroes Themes

In his work, Issa draws complex intersectional relationships between pop culture, history, politics, religion, race and current events. Many of his pieces are parodies of iconic images and paintings, where he replaces figures with superheroes, celebrities and politicians. Even if one is not familiar with Issa’s past, his work still conveys a strong message.

Spirit of 2076 is a parody on Spirit of ’76, a painting by Archibald M. Willard dating from 1875:

The original painting depicts American patriotism during the Revolutionary War, featuring a marching celebration of two drummers and a fifer. An American flag emerges proudly through smoke, presumably dust still settling from a recent battle.

In Spirit of 2076, Issa substitutes the musicians with superheroes. Superman leads in the middle proudly banging his drum, with Wonder Woman and Batman at either side playing the drum and fife, respectively. The 13 stars of the American flag are replaced with a McDonald’s logo:

Do comic book heroes represent a new form of heroism, iconic of the 21^st century? And with the McDonald’s logo… does it suggest that our food choices and the corporate structure of billion-dollar entities have become synonymous with government? What about Happy Meal toys? Does the promise of fun by food give kids real happiness?

Artist Validates Mental Illness

Through parody and absurdity, Issa challenges viewers to draw connections in their minds. Based on my own experience with mania and psychosis, I recognize this as an impetus that precisely causes mental illness, when experienced in sheer excess. Yet in moderation, this creativity is a sharp tool to wield, in solidarity.

In the realm of mental health advocacy, we need creative people to offer their unique talents in the fight for validation. This creates diversity amongst advocates, thus emphasizing our individuality and personhood. We have opinions and worldviews that must be recognized if there is hope for society to continue in a humane direction. Art is a way of peace, and Issa’s work profoundly emphasizes this message.

Check out Issa’s Issues Gallery on Etsy.