Untitled artworks by Diana Francis

Biro illustrations

Diana's artworks were submitted by her daughter Rachelle Francis.

Trigger warnings: Death, suicide, addiction and trauma.

Artist statement: These biro doodled artworks were created by my late mum Diana Francis whilst she was housebound during the last 18 months of her life. Diagnosed with a terminal lung condition and struggling with chronic anxiety and depression, she found self expression, freedom and strength through escaping on the page. She compulsively and obsessively doodled these intricate and mindful patterns with a biro, on the backs of ripped up bills, handing them to me in an envelope in the months leading up to her death. The red and blue biro patterns in these photos are the tip of her doodled iceberg, an extract of 301 artworks (15 x 11 cm each) created between Sep 2018 and Oct 2019. Her last doodle was left unfinished just 3 months before she died.

Diana spent her life making art in solitude, doodling over 1,000 patterns between the ages of 21 and 68. She signed, dated and kept them all, hiding them in a wardrobe behind her clothes when I was growing up. Doodling was her instinctive, necessary and comforting meditative tool. The beautiful patterns she created became her own personal visual language when words were hard to find. She first began to put pen to paper following a stay in a psychiatric ward in 1972 (after she had tried to take her own life). She made some of her most heavily involved doodles during a second stay on a ward in 1976, following another suicide attempt. Diana (who was likely neurodivergent) battled with undiagnosed mental health conditions; experienced complex trauma as a child; traumatic events as an adult and finally an addiction that lead to her death.

Mum asked me to ‘look after’ her ‘arts and crafts’. I am a textile artist, making new from old as I collaborate posthumously with her previously hidden patterns. With my Arts Council Funded community art project Drawing for Mental Health I am working to share the power and possibilities of Diana’s artwork as inspiration to support people to achieve mental calm in a chaotic world.

Please follow my art and mental health project on social media:
Instagram: @with_and_without_diana
Facebook: With & Without Diana

Untitled artworks by Diana Francis

Biro illustrations

Diana's artworks were submitted by her daughter Rachelle Francis.

Trigger warnings: Death, suicide, addiction and trauma.

Artist statement: These biro doodled artworks were created by my late mum Diana Francis whilst she was housebound during the last 18 months of her life. Diagnosed with a terminal lung condition and struggling with chronic anxiety and depression, she found self expression, freedom and strength through escaping on the page. She compulsively and obsessively doodled these intricate and mindful patterns with a biro, on the backs of ripped up bills, handing them to me in an envelope in the months leading up to her death. The red and blue biro patterns in these photos are the tip of her doodled iceberg, an extract of 301 artworks (15 x 11 cm each) created between Sep 2018 and Oct 2019. Her last doodle was left unfinished just 3 months before she died.

Diana spent her life making art in solitude, doodling over 1,000 patterns between the ages of 21 and 68. She signed, dated and kept them all, hiding them in a wardrobe behind her clothes when I was growing up. Doodling was her instinctive, necessary and comforting meditative tool. The beautiful patterns she created became her own personal visual language when words were hard to find. She first began to put pen to paper following a stay in a psychiatric ward in 1972 (after she had tried to take her own life). She made some of her most heavily involved doodles during a second stay on a ward in 1976, following another suicide attempt. Diana (who was likely neurodivergent) battled with undiagnosed mental health conditions; experienced complex trauma as a child; traumatic events as an adult and finally an addiction that lead to her death.

Mum asked me to ‘look after’ her ‘arts and crafts’. I am a textile artist, making new from old as I collaborate posthumously with her previously hidden patterns. With my Arts Council Funded community art project Drawing for Mental Health I am working to share the power and possibilities of Diana’s artwork as inspiration to support people to achieve mental calm in a chaotic world.

Please follow my art and mental health project on social media:
Instagram: @with_and_without_diana
Facebook: With & Without Diana