Lorna Collins

When I was 18, I had a severe traumatic brain injury and fell into a coma. When I awoke, I had total amnesia and did not know who I was, who anyone was. I developed a number of severe mental illnesses and was locked away for nearly 2 decades. During this time, art was my saviour; I would paint to express the inexpressible, my sheer misery. I would paint, write, express what I could not say. Eventually the doctors would look at my paintings, diagnose, medicate and treat my illnesses. Art became my medicine (on the list of the drugs I had to take). My creativity nourished me, drove my eventual recovery, feeds my life. In March 2020 I did a TED talk, ‘How Creativity Revived Me’, about this theme. I live with the ongoing effects of the brain injury, which means I have what is called 'organic psychotic disorder'. This condition has caused me a great deal of angst over the years, but art and creativity allow me to express and cope with it. I now run a charity, "A Creative Transformation", which draws together survivors of acquired brain injury. We make art, tell our stories and form a community, in arts-based workshops which take place in hospital and community settings around the UK.