Local poet, spoken word artist and playwright, Wayne Power announced last week that he was cancelling his performance at Electric Picnic this year.
Wayne was due to perform at the spoken word stage at the festival, before candidly revealing on Friday that due to mental health reasons he would not be able to make the trip to Laois.
“I am in ongoing recovery from agoraphobia,” he said in a statement, “I haven’t really left Waterford in about 19 years… it is an overwhelming and insidious condition and I manage it as best as I can and continue to do so. My apologies to anyone I might have left down.”
Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder characterised by the fear or avoidance of places or situations that might cause panic and feelings of being trapped or helpless.
It is a complex condition, which Wayne says impacts his ability to leave his familiar surroundings in Waterford City.
“As part of the condition there is a buildup of anxiety about being away from home and being away from a certain comfort zone,” he said, “I’m trying as hard as I can to break that. It’s been a long road and there’s a long way to go.”
Wayne said his next step of recovery is to work towards finding comfort outside of Waterford, to enhance both his personal and professional life.
“Pulling out of Electric Picnic was a huge blow, it hurt a lot but you have to dust it off and keep going. It’s something I’m still working on and working towards so I can go and represent myself and Waterford as best I can and be the best artist I can be.
“I’m at my happiest when I’m writing and performing, I’m at my safest when I have a pen or a mic in my hand and I’m blessed to be doing what I’m doing.”
