There is little doubt that art is a platform that can be used to express endless amounts of ideas. With the exhibition series “Piece of Mind,” the BC Psychological Association (BCPA) and a handful of artists, the main idea right now is mental health. This past Wednesday, one iteration of the exhibition series opened at the AMS Hatch Gallery with the theme of "resilience."
“Piece of Mind” was founded three years ago by Rukshana Hassanali, the events and education coordinator of the BCPA. Since then, the project has branched out with many other exhibits all across Canada — from the Vancouver Public Library all the way to McGill University. For her, art was the ideal platform to get plenty of people talking about a subject rarely touched upon.
“A lot of times, it’s hard to find a way to talk about psychology and mental health,” said Hassanali. “Bringing art and psychology together, it creates a platform to talk about [both of them].… I think the hardest part about getting a discussion started is getting people together and not feeling scared to say something.”
The importance of discussion was emphasized during the opening event. Apart from presenting the artistic works, there was a short presentation discussing this specific exhibition’s theme of "resilience" and how it functions within individuals. Additionally, there was a Q&A panel involving the artists themselves that covered the inspirations of their works as well as what mental health means to them.
For artist Rebecca Ou, resilience and mental health are both personal stakes close to her heart. Diagnosed as dyslexic when she was only three, Ou took her diagnosis report, broke it down into phonemes and filmed herself reading them. She then traced her lip movements, converting them into three small animated flip-books. The project was yet another way for her to come to terms with her condition and keep looking forward.
“[My mom] turned my head around … she always tells me, ‘It’s not how you start, it’s how you end.’ That really stuck with me,” said Ou during the panel. She added that this support and her passion for art helped her cope with her difficulties in everything else. “I found art as a form of therapy — I think finding something you like and having people who love you [is a way of personal] resilience.”
Personal experience with mental health was not necessary for artists to participate in the event. Some artists still desired to address issues that pertained to discussing mental health, even if indirectly. Visual artist Patrick O’Neill was one of them — he wanted to explore how mental health may not be well understood due to limitations in terminology, language and reluctance for better comprehension.
“I was interested in how language plays into our understanding of mental health – [how] it’s not gained a lot of traction. There are lots ideas [regarding mental health] that are centuries old, yet haven’t really progressed,” said O’Neill in the Q&A.
Whatever the case, Hassanali is overall grateful for art's ability to help messages reach out to many individuals — no matter what the subject is.
“I’ve always found art to be this really unique experience to share with everyone [in that] everyone experiences art in their own way. But at the same, [we] are all experiencing it together … you’re kind of seeing what other people are seeing in the same way,” Hassanali said. “Art has always been there for me when I feel stressed out or dealing with something difficult and I can’t really find the words to say. Art creates that platform for me.”