ART ON THE BRAIN
Tech exec turned shutterbug produces book with help from $8-million scanner
Tech executive-turned-photographer Steven West has a new book, Beautiful Minds, which is a combination of brain images, portraits and personal stories that offers a unique perspective on the issue of substance-use disorders.
High-tech executive Steven West joined the board of The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research about three years ago and learned about brain imaging at a board meeting.
West was captivated by the images captured at the brain imaging centre. In black-and-white, like X-rays, they were taken using a positron emission tomography-magnetic resonance imaging scanner, known as a PET-MRI, an $8-million machine at The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research.
There are a half-dozen PETMRIs in Canada, but the one at the institute is the only one in the country used solely for mental health research, including projects probing depression, schizophrenia, sleep disorders and suicidal ideation.
The original idea was to ask wellknown Ottawa figures to have their brains scanned, sharing the images with the public to invite conversations about mental health.
But West argued that it would be better to augment the brain images with the stories and portraits of people. At the same time, he learned his daughter had a substance-use disorder.
“The light went on. The whole thing about stigma and the difficulty of talking about this,” he said.
West has a background in biochemistry and had been CEO of MDS & Nordion Inc. from 2010-14, among other business roles. After his career in the private sector, he spent two years as a full-time student at the School of Photographic Arts in Ottawa, where he's now artist-in-residence.
West used colour and texture to augment the brain images and produced the portraits in his Ottawa studio. The stories were written by his subjects. He met many of them through Gord Garner, executive director at the Community Addictions Peer Support Association.
“The brain images are kind of conversation pieces. But the power is in the stories,” said West.
When he started the project, he enjoyed taking photos of people while travelling, but concedes that portraits were something new for him.
“I always enjoyed getting pictures of people in their settings, rather than getting the gaze of people,” he said. “I wanted all of the portraits to illustrate resilience. I didn't want vulnerability. I wanted resilience and strength.”
Garner, who had been to rehab seven times and went into recovery in 2010, is one of the portraits in the book, along with his brother, Alan, who said in his story that he knew his brother before substance-use disorder took over his life and always believed that “the wonderful bits of my brother that lay buried could rise again.”
But stigma prevented open family discussions, blocked family support, and isolated Gord when he was most in need of support, said Alan Garner.
Another participant in the book project was Carleton University president Benoit-Antoine Bacon, who recounted in his story the interview he had for the job at the university's helm. Bacon was asked what he felt he could bring to the role. He talked about his lived experience as the survivor of childhood abuse and his own substance use.
“As long as I can remember, my father was a tyrannical narcissist and self-medicated with extreme daily doses of alcohol. He demeaned, belittled, gaslighted, insulted, manipulated and pushed us around in an atmosphere of permanent terror,” wrote Bacon.
Throughout his teens, Bacon thought he would escape and create a life of reason and beauty, “but that's not what happens because you are utterly broken and unable to function.”
Bacon estimates he was deeply clinically depressed for about 20 years and self-medicating with alcohol and other drugs. He has been in recovery for 10 years. On the other side of that dark tunnel is pride, he said.
“I wanted to share this, because they deserved to know who they were hiring, and because I didn't think I could lead an institution effectively if my leadership isn't anchored in the truth of my lived experience.”
West said before he went behind the camera, he talked with his subjects for about an hour.
“I really got to know these people before I even sat them down on the stool,” he said. “It's so easy to be judgmental. That's what stigma is all about. It really was quite humbling.”
The only way to end the loneliness of those who have a substance-use disorder is to end the silence, said Garner.
West's book will bring the subject onto the coffee tables and into people's homes, he said.
“These conversations have never taken place before. It's about allies.”
We need to treat substance-use disorders as diseases, said West.
“If just one person read the book and found a way to get into recovery, I will have met my goal.”
Beautiful Minds is being launched Wednesday with a panel discussion on substance use and stigma. Registration is required.
The book is available for order online. Proceeds go to the Royal and the Community Addictions Peer Support Association.