Joe McConnell's blog
Joe is a disabled Irish writer and emerging-better-late-than-never visual artist living in the UK since the 1970s. While increasingly alienated and terrified by the toxic la-di-da of the capitalist mainstream, he finds that being reborn as an artist makes life worth living again.
8 November 2011
Joe gets chased out of the forest ...
Over a year ago, I started writing this blog to trace my journey in making art to battle the monsters that have been raging at my mental health for over half a lifetime. Over a year later, I'm...Comments: 4
21 September 2011
Joe Mc rekindles his DAO blog after a very long silence ...
Haven't been here on this blog for a while. Didn't mean to be away so long. About a year ago, i put up a few posts about coming out. This was a twofold thing : coming out both as a disabled person...Comments: 4
9 June 2011
Joe is bewitched by Adventures in the Dark and Light
I haven't blogged on dao in ages so am probably well forgotten and won't burden you with the reasons for my recent silence. Now, I feel absolutely compelled to break that silence to share something...Comments: 3
4 October 2010
Joe Mc is learning to draw ...
For some time now, the NHS has been rolling out the Personalised Mental Health Care Programme. Since hearing about it a few months ago, I haven't been given a clear idea of what it's about. But I do...Comments: 3
6 September 2010
Joe Mc visits the Damien Hirst room at Tate Britain
'Mother and Child. Divided. London 1993' was the first piece of work I saw by Damien Hirst. You might recall it consisted of a cow and her calf dissected, then pickled in formaldehyde. I was revolted...Comments: 4
30 August 2010
Joe Mc remembers Naji Al-Ali
I have really enjoyed the past few weeks blogging on DAO. One of the pleasures has been sharing this space with the sparkling insights of Caroline Cardus, Sophie Partridge, Rockinpaddy (move over...Comments: 5
21 August 2010
Joe Mc on a journey through the underworld ...
A few weeks ago i was overjoyed on reading a blog post from Colin Hambrook, where he told us that one of his favourite movies is Orphée (Jean Cocteau, France, 1949). It is one of mine as well....Comments: 5
15 August 2010
Joe McConnell is not feeling very normal today
'Nice to see you using art to get back to being normal again.' A recent comment from a well-meaning friend who had just grabbed my DAO blog and was feeding back. This stopped me in my tracks. When...Comments: 4
4 August 2010
Joe Mc on feeling like Mattia Pascal
'Il Fu Mattia Pascal' (The Late Mattia Pascal), by Luigi Pirandello [1], tells the story of a man who, afer a lifetime spent in a quiet provincial town, vanishes and is believed dead. Elswehere, he...Comments: 1
2 August 2010
Joe Mc in search of '5 Rhythms'
In the last post, I mentioned the power of music in lifting the vibe and helping you get through when it's difficult to do anything much at all. Listening to music seems key to what unlocked a...Comments: 4
26 July 2010
Joe Mc and the food of love
I mentioned the other day that my recent recovery from a year-long period of severe depression was helped by making art. This is still working for me. And many friends and colleagues are remarking...Comments: 5
22 July 2010
Joe Mc tells the truth for a change ...
The writer and performer, Julie McNamara, once advised me to 'never let the truth get in the way of a good story'. Maybe it is ironic that, with her recent humdinger of a play Crossings, Julie went...Comments: 5
21 July 2010
Joe Mc on cutting off his book to spite his face ...
Today is the day i say farewell to Facebook. I only went on it a few weeks ago because it was a way of catching up with the humanitarian flotilla which was heading for Gaza. The BBC is so unreliable...Comments: 6
15 July 2010
Joe Mc on how he came to like the Beatles
I wish to say thank you to a dear friend who played me some old Beatles numbers recently, and made me realise what a tosser I had been for the past half-century to have been completely...Comments: 2
13 July 2010
Joe McConnell on the kindness of strangers
In the last post and chorus, I mentioned that for some time now i can't stop making art. That's true. Now for as long as I can remember, i've been into drawing - pretentiously daydreaming that i was...Comments: 5
12 July 2010
Joe McConnell is the new kid on the blog
This could actually be called Joe Blogs. But the joke would run thin very quickly and must have been used many times before. That's me alright. Always joking. Partly because all my life I've had an...Comments: 6