BY ROSIE CLAY

I go by Rosie. I write and draw autobiographical comics. I have since a year after I was diagnosed with bipolar type one at age eighteen. I have made comics about all aspects of my life, but mainly I am drawn to writing about my manic and depressed episodes.

I am 27 years old and go to art school part-time while also working at a Gelato Cafe. I was home educated until college; I come from a large family and I grew up in rural Illinois.
Something I am passionate about is communicating my story: I have experienced with my diagnosis of bipolar, such as despair, euphoria, delusions, grandiosity, and suicidality, are less uncommon than a lot of people may believe — but at the same time, greatly misunderstood. I want to allow others to see what it has been like to experience depression and mania for me. I think that, besides it being cathartic and creatively rewarding to create comics about my life, it's important to me to share my experiences of psychosis and illness.

In this way, it's also about sharing a part of myself with others, and allowing the things that happened to me to be shown, to be heard, and maybe, to take part in changing the world's understanding of bipolar disorder and mental illness, even if it's just a drop in the bucket towards that change.

Excerpt of "The Beginning"

Another Excerpt of The Beginning

Visit Rosie Clay's site to read more of The Beginning and her other comics.