The Second Mind, Leslie Campbell

Posthumously found and collected by his nephew, this affecting portrait of Leslie Campbell, reveals a consciousness at its most vulnerable, desperate and unvarnished. The Second Mind is both an artistic statement and a homage to an actor and therapist in search of meaning, belonging and love.

Written in prose and poetry, Leslie Campbell dissolves the boundaries between himself and the observer, revealing a contested space where multiple voices are fighting to be heard. It catalogues Campbell’s dreams and sexual encounters and maps them in a psychogeography of isolation, addiction, creative block, and the relentless pursuit to find meaning. Campbell draws on James Hillman’s archetypal psychology, Samuel Beckett’s The Aesthetics of Failure, and the vulnerability of Kathy Acker.

"It's madness to turn all our impulses outwards and to take literally all our phantasies. Phantasies are by their very nature, internal and should be treated as such. In a dream I find treasure, so I buy a boat and travel up the Orinoco? Insanity. The treasure, the real treasure is inside."