Growing up with early childhood trauma Jessica developed new friends in her mind to help her survive. As the years passed, parts went their separate ways tearing her apart. Eventually Jess took over to find their way through the adult world. But can they survive being crazy?
**Content includes descriptions of child abuse, sexual assault and mental illness.**
SHAME SHAME, go away (2020) By Jess MacCormack
SHAME SHAME, go away (2020) By Jess MacCormack
SHAME SHAME, go away (2020) By Jess MacCormack
“SHAME SHAME, Go Away is written and illustrated by MacCormack, a Vancouver-based artist, activist and educator invested in queer politics, mental health, embodiment, and decriminalization. Dedicated to their late friend Mia Rose Cameron, a teenager who died by suicide, SHAME SHAME, Go Away shares MacCormack’s experiences to bring light to the impacts of childhood trauma on people’s mental health and the damaging effects of medical and [in]justice systems.”
– Rebecca Casalino for FEMME ART REVIEW
“Mask-like faces, faces within faces, scarlet red genitals leaking fluids, and toothy bleeding mouths – there is a nightmarish, carnivalesque aspect to MacCormack’s iconography of shame that is truly unforgettable. When I first stumbled across the book’s Instagram account and was exposed to its remarkable imagery I thought to myself that I hadn’t seen visualizations this potent since Frida Kahlo, Ana Mendieta, or Kiki Smith.”
– Kathryn Simpson for Bad Feeling Magazine
SHAME SHAME, go away (2020) By Jess MacCormack
SHAME SHAME, go away (2020) By Jess MacCormack
SHAME SHAME, go away (2020) By Jess MacCormack
SHAME SHAME, go away (2020) By Jess MacCormack
SHAME SHAME, go away (2020) By Jess MacCormack
SHAME SHAME, go away (2020) By Jess MacCormack
SHAME SHAME, go away (2020) By Jess MacCormack
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Jess MacCormack
They/Them
Jess MacCormack is a queer, mad artist working in Vancouver on the unceded ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sə̓lílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Their art practice engages with the intersection of institutional violence and the socio-political reality of personal trauma. Working with communities and individuals affected by stigma and oppression, they use cultural platforms and distribution networks to facilitate collaborations which position art as a tool to engender personal and political agency.
Jess Mac’s digital work has been shared through various online platforms, such as VICE Creator’s project, PAPER Mag, and Art F City. Their animations have been screened internationally at festivals such as the Ottawa International Animation Festival, MIX-26 the New York Queer Experimental Film Festival, Transcreen Amsterdam Transgender Film Festival, LA Film Fest at UCLA, Inside Out, Imaginative Film Festival and International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA).
They have an MFA in Public Art and New Artistic Strategies from the Bauhaus University (2008) and were an Assistant Professor of Studio Arts at Concordia University (2010-2013). Jess is currently an instructor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
