Jonny Briggs nominated the psychoanalyst Darian Leader:

I have long-connected with psychoanalyst Darian Leader's immersive and entertaining case studies and stories, which, when spoken in his public talks, remind me of being read a bedtime story. Darian is softly spoken, and entertains thoughts without imposing rigid views, creating an arena of acceptance that sparks a playfully open mindset when I listen.

At Barbican Gallery’s Surreal House exhibition, Darian voiced an insightful observation that the words people use when their homes are broken into are startlingly similar to when their bodies have been violated. The blurred boundary between self and environment, the home as a metaphorical body, has fuelled many ideas within my practice.

In his book ‘Stealing the Mona Lisa: What Art Stops us From Seeing,’ Darian speaks of when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, more people went to see the empty space than when it was actually there. What does this tell us about what we look for in an art piece? Perhaps one way we can look at the history of art, is to look at the history of different ways of leaving something out of an image.

In many ways, my practice feels like a self-psychoanalysis; beyond being an interest, it’s an interest in my interests, and provides an arena to have a conversation with myself. I think we are in a privileged position to be able to ask the question ‘what’s my mind telling me?' and this is a question Darian encourages me to ask. 

Work by Darian Leader: