Recovery in Art exhibition 2014
One-in-four Australians experience some sort of mental illness across their lifetime. Sometimes it’s difficult to make these type of statistics feel tangible so maybe consider it this way… a handful of your very closest friends have gone through, or are currently going through, some really shitty times with regard to their mental wellbeing. That’s why mental health is an issue very close to our hearts and why, if you’re in Sydney, you should check out the upcoming Recovery in Art exhibition.
This Mental Health Month, the public is invited to a unique exhibition where artists with a lived experience of mental illness tell their stories through art. The 2014 Recovery in Art exhibition is a forum where we can celebrate life through creativity. The artworks are as diverse as the artists themselves and their stories.
The exhibition will feature more than 100 artworks, created by people who have personal experience of mental illness. The works come from all across the state; from Dubbo to Darlinghurst.
An artist featured at this year’s show, Tina Pirola, says art had a very special place in her recovery journey. “Art is a way of making sense of it all,” she said. “When you don’t have the words to express what you’re thinking or feeling, art has a way of connecting with people and starting a conversation.”
Although she has exhibited some of her artworks before, this is Tina’s first time exhibiting at Recovery in Art.
“Being a part of Recovery in Art has been important to me. People with a mental illness often feel invisible in society. To have an exhibition that acknowledges my artistic process hand-in-hand with my recovery process has been so refreshing” said Tina. “It’s not about whether you like an artwork or whether it’s ‘good’ or ‘bad’, it’s about the process of making the work, what it means to the artist and what it means to the viewer.”
The exhibition is running from 8-10 October in the Muse in Ultimo TAFE, (Cnr Harris and Thomas St), right across the road from the ABC. For more details go here.
