[alt text and transcript of posts. First post from wenchyfloozymoo. A series of still screenshots of Australian writer/comedian Hannah Gadsby speaking and gesturing expressively at a mic, with captions as follows.]
But IâA couple of years ago, a man came up to me after⊠my show.
He had an opinion.
Now, in the show, Iâd spoken about taking antidepressant medication, and he had an opinion on that.
Now, interestingly, Iâd also spoken about how unhelpful unsolicited advice is in a⊠mental health plan, but he mustnât have heard that bit.
He said, âYou shouldnât take medication because youâre an artist. Itâs important that you feel.â
He said, âIf Vincent van Gogh had have taken medication, we wouldnât have the sunflowers.â
I never, ever, ever thought that my art history degree would ever come in handy.
I tore that man a college debt-sized new arsehole.
I said, âGood opinion, mate. Except that he did medicate. He self-medicated a lot. He drank a lot. He even nibbled on his own paints. He didnât just paint sunflowers, he did quite a few portraits of psychiatrists. Not even random ones. Psychiatrists who were treating him. And medicating him. And thereâs one particular portrait of one particular psychiatrist, and heâs holding a flower, and it isnât a sunflower. Itâs a foxglove. And that foxglove forms part of a medication that Van GoghâŠtook for epilepsy. And that derivative of the foxglove plant medi-fucking-cationâŠâ
I must have skipped a dose that day âcause I was feeling.
âThe derivative of the foxglove, if you overdose it a bit, you know what happens?
You can experience the color yellow a little too intensely. So perhaps⊠we have the sunflowers precisely because⊠Van Gogh medicated.
What do you honestly think, mate?â I said.
âThat creativity means you must suffer?
That is the burden of creativity?
Just so you can enjoy it?
Fuck you, mate. If you like sunflowers so much, buy a bunch and jerk off into a geranium.â
[second post by waterâdamage is an image of the Van Gogh painting described, in the artistâs distinctive swirling textured style. It shows a man with light coloured hair, heavy hooded eyes and a mustache, wearing a white hat and dark coat. He rests his cheek against one hand and leans on it as he looks thoughtfully in a direction just slightly to the right of the viewer. His opposite hand rests on a vivid red-orange table with the foxglove plant.]
[following the third post in text by dovewithscales, another screenshot from redshoesnblueskies of a quote from American artist/writer Ursula Vernon.]
âIf ONE MORE PERSON says âWhat if theyâd medicated Van Gogh!?â I think Iâm permitted to set things on fire. If theyâd medicated Van Gogh, heâd either have painted twice as much, or heâd have been happy and unproductive. And you know what? Starry Night wasnât worth a terrible price in human misery. Itâs neat. It wasnât worth it. Sometimes I wonder if being an artist makes me jaded to ART. Because itâs not magic and itâs not mystical, itâs just paint or pixels. And it can do amazing things! But you donât owe humanity to be miserable just so you can move paint around in interesting shapes. Jesus. Art is not some kind of Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas bargain where you agree to be miserable so everybody can go âoh! Neat!â for 5 minutes.â
Ursula Vernon, dropping the mic.
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