Schizophrenia and Nova Scotian Landscapes: News from the Studio
2026 started with a psychotic episode.
Supported by my wonderful partner Jessica, my parents, and my extended family and friends, I was able to recover with minimal disruption.
But something had shifted for me when I sat back down at my drawing desk after spending 2 weeks experiencing psychosis. A question had arisen. That question was:
How come I've never painted my experience before?
Thus began a body of work merging two areas of my life that are intrinsically connected: My relationship with the land, and my experiences of schizophrenia.
It started with rough sketches–visions of mental states described as diagrams, self-portraits, and landscapes. Lots and lots of landscapes.
Between February and May of 2026, I began photographing areas of Nova Scotia that my family visited. If we were driving and I couldn't take a good cell phone picture, I'd make a mental note to return. I began painting digitally in a similar fashion to how traditional paint works. Colour-mixing, layering digital paint, and working on a single layer.
It was with this body of work that I applied to the Iota Institute's InterCHANGE 2026 Exhibition.
Set along the Cogswell Interchange, an area of Downtown Halifax that has seen a lot of upheaval and redevelopment over the years, InterCHANGE 2026 is a public art exhibit featuring banners and murals created by local artists.
In my application, I talked about schizophrenia and its connection to memory. Specifically my memories of landscapes both human-made and natural, and how memories and perspectives shift as our experience changes. How we see the world changes before our very eyes, not just in our minds, but also in how the land evolves.
I am very grateful that my application for public art was chosen.
Translating my experience through visual media was something I had of course considered before 2026, but to gently knock on the fine art door and have it swing open so widely was not on my bingo card for the year. I feel emotional and deeply grateful that I get to do this work.
Here are some other landscapes from this year. Prints of this work can be ordered here.
Lastly – CBC's Erin MacInnis interviewed me this week.
The segment aired on Information Morning NS, and was posted to This is Nova Scotia podcast. I'm grateful to Erin, the folks at the CBC, the Iota Institute, my buyers, and everyone who has been on this journey with me so far.
It is an immense privilege to do this work.
Warmly,
Callum