Kalaba Painting

Kim from the age of 14 years old has spent 20 years in and out of hospital until she made contact with Dr Valerie Sinason and Dr Rob Hale at the Tavistock and Portman Clinics. 16 years ago she began therapy and was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formally multiple personality disorder). D.I.D is a creative way to cope with unbearable pain. The main personality splits into several parts each having an amnesic barrier between them. It is a conventional disorder but Kim has had extensive tests over 2 years by leading psychology professor at UCL, John Morton , who has established there is no memory between the personalities and that she represents the British gold standard over genuine Dissociation. With no formal art training, Kim and 12 of her personalities (alters) became interested in painting in 2004 after spending a short time with an art therapist. These 12 artists each have their own distinctive style, colour and themes, ranging from solitary desert scenes, to sea scenes to abstracts, collages and paintings with traumatic content. Many are unaware that they share a body with other artists. Kim was the first Artist in Residence at Springfield Hospital, Tooting, London.The face above is a sculpture in clay.The paintings below are the works of seven different alters. The works of other alters can be seen pn Saatchi on line under Bonny Noble, Golden Dawn, Judy Ash, Patricia King, M.J and Ria Pratt. "Our work comes from the heart not the head. (well you may of gathered it wasn't the head). We love the feeling of being together that an exhibitions brings. I will never see or meet the other personalities but seeing our paintings in one room is the nearest I can ever get. The feeling of warmth, love, pain and hope is filled in one space from one body. The body as well as the work becomes the art. It is our way of being united, as intergrated as we will ever be and I love it". Kim has had over sixty exhibitions international and nationa she appeared on the Oprah Winfrey closing show and is author of 'All of Me' an autobiography.