About | 29-days-later

On December the 5th 2013, I made a genuine attempt to take my own life using a combination of assorted non-prescription tablets and a hefty quantity of alcohol. Having been discovered before my goal was achieved, I was admitted to Croydon University Hospital ( formerly known as Mayday ) where I was attended to medically.

After a five day stay, I was discharged at around 2:30am and taken, still in my night clothes in a freezing cold hospital transport vehicle, euphemistically referred to as an 'ambulance' to The Bethlem Royal Hospital in Beckenham. I arrived with my life in carrier bags. Cold, Frightened, Confused, and Angry. My next port of call was the spartan admissions room at Croydon Triage Ward, where both me and my worldly posessions were thoroughly searched and certain items removed for 'my own safety' and to make sure correct procedure was followed..

After 14 days in Triage, I was then discharged on Christmas Eve to another ward within the Bethlem Royal site - the locally infamous Gresham 2.

It was during my time in BRH that the original idea of 29 Days Later began to form in my somewhat befuddled brain. Long before it had any kind of title or theme, the idea was to simply take some images of the environment in which I found myself using my mobile phone ( A slightly battered Samsung Galaxy S2 ). These images were going to be a personal record of my time at BRH. Nothing more.

I then began to experiment with a series of free apps which I had downloaded previously, to edit / post produce some the images to see what could be achieved.

To my surprise, it was possible to employ a vast range of adjustments and create an even greater range of effects. This spawned the desire to try and create a series of images that might prescribe the feelings and emotions of my time spent in hospital.

The idea began to form into a kind of project, and so I thought it deserved a working title. Having calculated the time spent at BRH and realised, erroneously as it turned out, that the stay amounted to 28 days. I went on and struggled to find a pastiche title from the film 28 Days Later. However, after a recount, 29 was the actual number of days spent there. During a mildly epiphanous moment, the title was born.

After much compiling, sorting and agonising indecision, the images began to take their order within the chaos of this, my first shambolic attempt at such a project. Then further having suffered the idiosyncrasies of an operating system with the same initials as a neurological condition, the images finally assumed an order.

Much of the original post production was achieved using my phone and the apps therein.

It was only after leaving hospital and regaining my laptop, that I could see the images on a larger screen and further polish them using a great piece of freeware called 'paint.net '.

29 images in an order that I was happy with.... What next ?

The next goal is to find out if the project can be put to some positive use.

My thoughts are to see if it might be used as a fund raising mechanism of some kind to generate much needed extra funds for any area of the mental health care sphere.

Another idea is to explore the possibility of it being therapeutic in some way.

So any suggestions, contacts, or useful information would be gratefully received, and put to good use if appropriate.