Kim Noble

In Pursuit of a Wonderful Nothing is a fragmented odyssey of artistic survival and longing. Reconstructed through hand-drawn illustrations, artefacts and photographs, cult performance artist Kim Noble navigates the blurred edges of performance and autobiography, tracing the journey through the everyday theatre of his life. As his art world escapades spiral from galleries in Helsinki to hardware stores in London, romance fizzes and reality unravels. Here, fantasy and fact tangle in hand-drawn chaos, and the book itself becomes an artefact—proof of an unreal real life. At once absurd and touching, Kim Noble’s journey is less a memoir and more a treasure hunt through the weird tides of love, loneliness, and the art of staying afloat. And in the margins of the page lurks a sardonic cephalopod, who crumples the story with inky interruptions andastute commentary on the unfolding adventures.

Kim Noble is an accomplished artist whose work has been exhibited around the world. She is a mother with a teenage daughter. She is a bubbly and vivacious woman. To meet her you wouldn't think anything was wrong. But when Kim was younger than five years old, her personality splintered and fractured. In 1995 she was finally diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) which has been described as a creative way to cope with unbearable pain. Now her body plays host to more than 20 different personalities, or 'alters'. There are women and men, adults and children; there is a scared little boy who speaks only Latin, an elective mute, a gay man and an anorexic teenager. Some alters age with her body; others are stuck in time. ALL OF ME takes the reader through the extraordinary world of a woman for whom the very nature of reality is different. It will tell of her terrifying battles to understand her own mind; of her desperate struggle against all odds to win back the child she loved; and of her courage and commitment in trying to make sense of her life. It is by turns shocking, inspiring, sometimes funny, and deeply moving.

Taking the reader through an extraordinary world where the very nature of reality is different, this personal narrative tells the story of one woman's terrifying battle to understand her own mind. From the desperate struggle to win back the child she loves to the courage and commitment needed to make sense of her life, this account recalls Kim Noble's many years in and out of mental institutions and various diagnoses until finally being appropriately diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID). Described as a creative way some minds cope with unbearable pain, DID causes her body to play host to more than 20 different personalities--from a little boy who speaks only Latin and an elective mute to a gay man and an anorexic teenager. Funny and ultimately uplifting, this brave illumination of the links and intersections between memory, mental illness, and creativity offers a glimpse into the mind of someone with DID and helps readers understand the confusion, frustration, and everyday difficulties in living with this disorder.

The extraordinary story of Kim Noble who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) or 'multiple personality disorder', in her own words.