Artist Jenna North’s Dissociative Identity Disorder, triggered by climate anxiety, manifests alter ego Wendy Well - a post-apocalyptic interior decorator obsessed with hydrofracking. Through footage of her art, travels to fracking sites and interviews with collaborators and DID experts, we explore the challenges of living with Wendy and chronic pain.
This film has been in the works since the emergence of Wendy Well in 2012. During the early years of her possession, I considered requesting an exorcism from the Catholic Church, as I truly felt like she had taken control of of my being. Now, ten plus years later after various cognitive therapies, and the development of a new alter ego I've come to understand that Wendy was/is a manifestation of a coping mechanism for trauma. The film aims to dispel the misconceptions and misrepresentation of Dissociative Identity Disorder in Hollywood as evil and murderous, as seen in horror films or exploited in “true crime” dramatized films. These depictions of mental illness breed misinformation shaping an unhealthy discourse. I've contacted three Psychiatrists who can speak about this, and we plan on reaching out to more experts who research DID to enlighten us on both it and the topic of climate change anxiety.
