artED: Speaking…From Personal Experience

artED (art and eating distress) is a digital zine that has evolved out of the graphic-art Lockdown Diaries that Shaddock began making at the start of the pandemic. Hand-drawn in black pen on white card, the Diaries contain a mix of podcast- TV- film- and audiobook-reviews, quotes, walks taken, football formation schematics (about her beloved Sheffield Utd), emojis, and icons— all contained within one side of A5. Text winds about the page, up, down and along the edges. Every inch of space is used. Completed in one take at the end of each day— all crossings-out are included. During periods of enforced isolation during Covid, the ritual of uploading them to her social media every evening became an incentive for Shaddock to keep stimulated and connected to family and friends. As the Diaries gained a following – and Shaddock more confidence – they gradually became a vehicle for sharing, with increasing candour, humour, and vulnerability, her experience of living with eating distress, OCD and her recent autism diagnosis. Shaddock’s commitment to the Diaries has continued post lockdown – there’s an ever-growing archive of over 1800 and counting – and the act itself is now an integral part of her practice. artED digital zine is born out of Shaddock’s interest to explore and extend the contents of the Diaries. To create a living archive that incorporates resources, and other facets of her work that she and others can draw on—from her autobiographical art-writing, signature colour palette, use of pattern, grid-forms, and repetition.

“As more and more people seemed to connect with my diaries the idea grew to explore them in more detail and show how I make sense of the world through my art. I hope that by sharing my experiences I can support others in similar situations and raise understanding of neurodiversity and eating distress.” Helen Shaddock

artED is funded by Arts Council England, supported by participating venues, and GMS/curating.