#mental health art
Some recent mental health pieces. Additional £4 for hoops. I ship internationally, just message me to order!
A tribute to all the incredibly kind people in the world who spend so much of themselves on other people despite the fact that they themselves are also hurting inside. Thank you. And please know that you are not alone. I love you and will be with you the entire way.
Hi! Just wanted to jump on here and let you know that in case you are looking for postcard sized prints and want to support a small business - I will be releasing my first cards soon! You can get more information on my instagram highlight called PRINTS.
Thank you !!
Greeting cards will be released soon on my Etsy shop!
The top design will be a Valentine’s Day card and the second will be a blank card.
Post link
I have produced an artist book to accompany the Mental Health Perspectives project. In it, I have written about the story of how the work evolved from participant research to creation of work which was inspired by this. It includes photography work by Laura Ruxton who collaborated with me on the project as well as featuring a few extracts from the original questionnaires. There is also explanations of ‘No One Loves Me’ and 'A Tangled Mind’. It finishes with an up to date bio.
I had this printed through blurb books and I am really happy with the results as a way to explain and accompany my practice to this point documenting and reflecting on the journey through the Ma. I am hoping to have a copy available at the Ma show for people to read through.
An important extract: “I would like to dedicate this book to all the participants who took part in the mental health questionnaire. I have worked with an honest open group of people who have helped to build a bigger picture of what mental illness looks like. Without you, this work would not exist”.
Post link
Big thanks for friends who came to the PV of Twice as Nice psmirabel and to those who sent good wishes too. You can still catch my work and the work of many other artists every Saturday 11-5pm till August 11th when the winners will be announced. Hope you enjoy the show. I also recommend the solo exhibition at sloe gallery by oliver crabtree whose work I really admire. So pop along and see it before they both end!
Post link
My Mental Health: Perspectives textile project is coming into focus with developed artwork being photographed on the body.
Textile artwork visualises the invisible affects of mental health on the mind and body.
Symptoms visualised include feeling restricted around the neck, feeling weight on the chest. Visualising the invisible emotional barrier and cocoon we make for ourselves to shelter us from the external world. A cocoon which also can become a self made and self contained cell.
Colours and formations are inspired by participants responses to a questionnaire I conducted on the same theme of asking participants to make their invisible feelings physical through drawing and writing. Responses informed artwork.
Colours of greys and blacks generated by an overwhelming theme from most questionnaire responses.
Words embroidered with a machine on the bodice state “No one loves me” the words repeated by a participant in their questionnaire over and over again in a mental repetitive chant, that speaks to them internally.
Brain formations created by couching long lengths of continuous yarn to represent familiar motifs. Cage made from corset boning to symbolise the cocoon. Corset-like lacing pulls in around the neck to be restrictive of comfortable movement and weights pull down on the shoulders.
2018.
Wool felt, eyelets, cord, polyester threads, cotton yarn, fishing weights, shoulder pads, press studs, plastic corset boning.
With thanks to and in collaboration with:
Photographer: Laura Ruxton @aurora_luxx
Model: Amy
Textile art: Louisa Hammond
Post link
Spent most of last Monday adding and working on this wearable sculpture to lengthen and fill out certain areas. This piece will be going to a shoot next week where I’ll be collaborating with others to transform the piece when worn on the human form. With help from other contacts sourced from Instagram I am looking forward to working with them and the possible new viewpoints on this.
The sculpture tackles feelings emerged from experiencing mental illness and how there are layers of emotion that can bubble from below up to the surface. Other themes within the piece are ‘restriction’, 'weight’ and the colours are derived from responses from questionnaires I sent out last year which asked participants to visualise their illness in physical form.
Post link
As yet remains “Untitled”
Here I have visualised the feelings one of my questionnaire participants shared in their responses of my study on mental health conducted in 2017. I have also included some of my own thoughts and creativity to help make visual the affects of mental illness so that it can be seen from the perspective of the body.
This piece is about the multi layered emotions a participant has described through drawing and writing about their mental health and them visualising what isn’t seen physically.
This is my interpretation of those responses from a textile perspective and thinking about these in relation to the body and the weight of those pressures on a human form.
This sculpture should be worn and is made from hand felted stones trapped between layers of felt and organza. These weigh down on the body and add pressure to the head and chest. Manipulated and embellished organza signifies the lighter areas of emotion and added spikes add weight with thrusting, bursting feelings that emerge from within and outwards to the surface.
It’s a very heavy object which weighs down on the wearer and pulls in at the neck with a corset-like front. Giving the sensation of pressure on the body and restriction in these areas of neck and chest.
The weight of the stones and spikes refers to the feelings of low mood. Colour choice is taken from the participants own drawings.
The work all in all aims to de-stigmatise mental illness, raise awareness of mental health and show others who perhaps haven’t experienced it first hand what some of the invisible affects of having a mental illness has on the body and mind.
Post link
all winter long insta- @ thejournalingrat
