Crazy Clearance

This is an image of Rocky who was a local character in Seaham. He refused all efforts to house him, preferring to live in a tent by a cliff on the Blast Beach and later in a cave in Ice House Dene. During his periodic bouts of psychosis he would sing and perform on the street. The people of Seaham were fond of him and tried hard to care for him. However he became increasingly poorly and during Lock-Down he did eventually allow himself to be admitted to a care home where he died a couple of years later. This lino print is derived from a photograph that I took of him had the sign ' crazy clearance' in the window of the store behind him. It seemed to be an metaphor for the difficulties experienced by people with mental illness since funding for mental hospitals was cut and diverted to 'Care in the Community' options that leaves many homeless and socially outcast.