I want to make visual stories about psychedelic healing that get past “preaching to the choir” of the movement, to speak to more people. I want to show what led people to seek psychedelics — and what they found.
I’ve worked on many projects to use portraits to capture human stories, but I think this one might be the most important. I had hoped to launch this as a series of portraits a live events this spring and summer, but obviously that’s not been possible — and won’t be for the foreseeable future. So, rather than pitching to brands, I’m sharing openly. I’m not sure what the next step to take will be, but I’m excited to see how it plays out. Huge thanks to collaborators past and present.
How to preach to the choir
People who “get it” get it, but others definitely do not “get it.”
I love Alex Grey’s artwork, and it would be a huge honor to meet him. Someday I will certainly buy an expensive print of his artwork and hang it proudly. But I have used my third eye and understand what this image is trying to convey. I, in fact, believe that all things are alive.
But that doesn’t make this good advocacy. To paraphrase the book and movie Contact — they should have sent a marketer. This image is what a poet would send back. I love it, but I can’t advocate for psychedelics with this image or those like it, which make up the majority of the psychedelic inspired artwork.
I think people are just desperate to make the ineffable… “effable” so to speak. Rather than do that, I want to tell human stories about how humans transform. Portraits that show other humans what it’s like to be healed, not what it’s like to visit other dimensions or see fractal visions of the universe.
We don’t need the world to understand something they can’t possibly understand: we need the world to understand that these medicines heal.
Our human side
Portraits can tell a story that resonates quickly.
This is from a former shoot by The COLORBOX Project, which I created and built with an incredible team. Too many to list here, but credited in name at the end of this post. It shows how a training program at Stanford’s d.school transformed a leader from the African Union. (2013) Most audiences can see this is a serious, thoughtful story. And get it clearly. It’s not intimidating and it’s desirable.
Change
& Joy
We need to sell people on things they want, not things they don’t get.
This is a photo from another shoot, but imagine if we could use these to describe “before and after” psychedelic psychotherapy. Would people be able to get it? I think so.
Sharing my own story
I started prototyping this idea for my journey.
So what’s next for this project? I’m not sure. I’m posting here and sharing. Let me know if you have ideas about how we could proceed. Thanks!
See the original pitch deck on google docs (link).
(Credits & Copyrights: Sean McDonald, Elysa Fenenbock, Royce Gorsuch, Colin Arndt, Richard Whitney, and Stanford University)