Resilience

Right now I'm a mess because I have several pieces of paperwork to do, and it's always a great source of anxiety because I'm not very good at filing my paperwork, so finding the forms they want is hard work, plus I tend to fill them wrong so it always starts a game of back and forth mail between me and the organism that wants the paperwork. It is to the point I'm seriously dreaming about giving up filing my paperworl entirely, even if it means I won't have my disability pension anymore. So when they say it's easy for mental health patients to go homeless, I'm starting to see how indeed easy it could be. I'm serious this time, I'm doing it, but I'm still lacking two forms and it makes me worried.

But I wanted to talk about something else. It's connected, however tiny the link is, as it makes me think that, even with strong limitations, one can achieve marvels. In June 2014 I went to a museum with people from my mental health dispensary. It was la Fabuloserie, the very first "art brut" museum that ever opened in France. In its garden there is this marvellous merry-go-round, nowadays we'd say it's entirely upcycled. It was made by a peasant called Petit Pierre, who was born deaf, mute and with deformities. His parents tried to make him go to school but other pupils were so bad with him he barely went one year, as, as disabeled he was and as hard it made communicating, his mind was perfectly normal so he could resent other children's cruelty. I think he learnt to write and read with his sister, but that may be me elaborating on the story. He started making his merry-go-round with tins and wood and other things he found, and soon he could let people visit it on sundays, so it was his way to be accepted by the people who looked down on him where he lived.

I don't have pics as I was too mesmerized by the merry-go-round to fetch my phone. There are even little tricks, like a man drinking in a glass with the sign : look at the man drinking his wine, and when you stop to look at it, you're splashed with water! There are also fireworkers that splash you from a big ladder, and a huge Eifel tower. I loved it.
I will try to find youtube videos but as I don't have sound on my PC I have no idea what they say :

So maybe, if Petit Pierre achieved his dream, I may be able to complete that bloody paperwork. At least I hope.


And if you ever go to Paris and can spare a day to go to Dicy, 130km from there, please do yourself a favour and go to la Fabuloserie. It's not conventionally pretty art, a lot of it feels oppressive as it reflects the circonstances of the persons who made it, but not all the pieces are grim. There are even textile pieces, and wooden machines and toys. And the village is charming, there is a little river with little stone houses and quaint gardens, it's really pretty if you like to draw or for a picnic.