A SCOT who suffered from OCD has turned his illness into stunning sculptures created entirely from books.
Thomas Wightman received treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as a teenager following his parents’ separation.
But he has now turned his anguish in amazingly intricate works of art using the pages of books, scissors, scalpels and a laser cutting machine.
One of the 26-year-old’s creations is a steam locomotive, complete with carriages and tracks, emerging from a tunnel in a book. The piece took the graphic design graduate from Edinburgh Napier University five days to make, working around the clock.
As well as helping to draw attention to the plight of OCD sufferers, Thomas got a first class degree with the highest result ever for the course, and a job.
Thomas said he was inspired by an anonymous artist who left 3D paper sculptures around arts and cultural institutions in Edinburgh in 2011.
Thomas, originally from Burnmouth, Scottish Borders, said: “I actually suffered from OCD when I was about 15-16. I was diagnosed and went to see a psychologist for about a year. I don’t suffer from it anymore.”
He added: “I wanted to create a nice way to express it. These art pieces were aimed to represent OCD in a beautiful way instead of the usual dull posters you see.
“The first sculpture was the small boat. That took about 3-4 days because it was all cut by hand. Then the letters are laser cut through a machine we had at the uni which helps speed up the process.
“The derailing train was a lot of work. That took about five days with basically no sleep.
“I remember just having paper everywhere and just about losing the plot.”
Thomas said he suffered mostly from the classic OCD habit of constantly washing his hands.
“We think it was triggered by mum and dad separating as it was around that time. I was also only about 15 so in high school which is tough enough as it is.
“It was all helped through chatting and thinking rationally and that helped me.”
