Growing up with early childhood trauma Jessica developed new friends in her mind to help her survive. As the years passed, parts went their separate ways tearing her apart. Eventually Jess took over to find their way through the adult world. But can they survive being crazy?
Content includes descriptions of child abuse, sexual assault and mental illness.
SHAME SHAME, go away, my second graphic book, came about as I felt the need to speak out about trauma, mental illness and dissociative identity disorder (DID). Much like the childhood sexual abuse I experienced, I always felt my diagnosis was a dirty little secret, and it has been a cause for much shame.
Inspired by my young friend Mia, I began painting again a few years ago. After deciding to create this book, I painted watercolours every day for over a year. Themes of tears/rain, death, devils, bunnies, dicks, sadness, injured bodies, bleeding mouths, rainbows and green foliage emerged and repeated. Words were painted on these pages to express the raw feelings coming forth, but when I went to actually write the book the stories were disjointed and hard to sit with.
And very hard to edit. I am very grateful to Oliver Fugler, Evan Montpellier, Tali Frankerpulten and my mom, Barbara MacCormack, for all their help editing these stories and helping give the writing some form. I worked with Erica Wilke, a graphic designer and small press publisher, to bring the images and text together. Working with Erica was a dream, as she was calm and consistent throughout our extensive and difficult work together.
The colourful, fully illustrated 180-page book was off-set printed by Hemlock Printers in Vancouver.
This project was created on the ancestral and unceded Traditional Coast Salish Lands including the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw), Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ) and Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) Nations.
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All prices are in Canadian dollars
Canadian shipping + book = $45
International shipping + book = $56
If you’re in need of more accessible pricing please contact me.
Jess MacCormack’s art practice engages with the intersection of institutional violence and the socio-political reality of personal trauma.
Working with communities and individuals affected by stigma and oppression, they use cultural platforms and distribution networks to facilitate collaborations which position art as a tool to engender personal and political agency
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
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SHAME SHAME, GO AWAY 