I am fine.

Image of a play script, mounted in a frame, with various drawings, comments, markings and lines upon it. and lines
‘I am fine’. (A3 digital mixed media) – Alice.

‘I am fine’. (A3 digital mixed media)

Label. Text reads ' Transpose, change order the,. Alice Stoakley, May 2020. This piece is based on a few days in April 2020, but the toing and froing with professionals, misunderstandings, great support, lack of support and general ups and downs could be any point in the last 15 years. In discussions with my health psychologist, I came to realise how bound up together are whether LG is fine and my ability to be fine - hence the title. Though it all shines LG's ability to, eventually, try again. LG will be fine!

The idea is to represent a framed picture that would hang in a gallery, ‘exhibiting’ the lived experience of a family in lockdown negotiating between a child in care many miles away and the care providers. I am the mother of ‘LG’ who grew up in Yorkshire until going into care and is now back in the county. 

I made it because I had been lying awake fretting yet again and this way to present our lives came to me as I was trying to clear my mind. It is deliberately a mishmash because that is life – but the message I wanted to convey is PLEASE LISTEN … to parents … to young people themselves, and to show how much it can hurt when some really don’t get it.

Ultimately, it also hides the message that sometimes we need to sit still with a situation and most often it will be ok – something I am very poor at doing because the trauma that we have all faced leaves us on edge. Important: there was also some incredible support at this time, but that is for another piece 😊.

Alice Stoakley, 2021.

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