Recycled art as a tool for the recovery process of people with mental illness

ARTCYCLING RECYCLED ART AS A TOOL FOR THE RECOVERY PROCESS OF PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS

CONTENTS Introduction to the Artcycling Project

2

Art as a Therapy

5

The Link between Mental Illness and Creativity

7

Recovery Process of People with Mental Illness

11

Upcycling People and Things

14

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Recycled Art

18

Showcasing the Power of Art

21

Mental health and arts celebration

23

Bibliography

26

Images

28

INTRODUCTION TO THE ARTCYCLING PROJECT The majority of products currently being sold in Europe are products of low quality which are imported from third world countries, where both cheap labor and materials are the guiding principles of the production process. This type of production process and consumption is to the detriment of our local communities, where we can no longer see our communities´ narratives, histories and realities in the products we use.

Upcycling is a process in which disposable or discarded items are re-purposed to make them valuable, useful, or simply aesthetically pleasing.

Upcycling is designed to work in opposition to consumer culture, encouraging people to think of new and creative ways to use things, instead of simply buying new consumer goods.

There is a growing appreciation in Europe for locally produced, high quality, handmade, unique products. Artcycling Coop will harness this appreciation and provide European artists with the tools on traditional, community driven knowledge, using wasted materials and reducing the environmental impact in their artistic creations.

Artcycling Coop enables European artists, between the ages of 18 to 55, disadvantaged and most of them having mental health challenges, to enter/re-enter the labor market with confidence and independence armed with a fresh and innovative set of skills that they will

- To build a community of mixed-ability art cyclers of decorative arts, formed by artists coming from different backgrounds and with different social situations, with and without disabilities, but sharing the critical vision of upcycling and the need of reducing environmental impact of art production.

acquire through the upcycle project.

- To create professional opportunities for

The objectives of the project are:

- To enable artists with disabilities to operate

European artists with disabilities. transnationally.

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- To fight against stigma and discrimination.

- To promote social and environmental responsibility - To provoke critical thinking on environmental and social issues through art creation.

The core concepts of the Artcycling project are: - To encourage a European wide awareness about the cultural heritage that exists in our everyday products, the value of this heritage and an awareness of its value in relation to developing 21st century design.

• To facilitate a cross-cultural identification and celebration of local characteristics and traditions, recovering European handicraft and history.

- To raise awareness at local, national and European level about resource efficiency and relation of handicraft to the labor market.

- To reinforce and support of local knowledge and identity within the frame of handcraft, tradition and history.

- To increase integrity, curiosity and craft as benchmarks in training people with disabilities to find their place in society.

- To build a European wide companionship amongst entrepreneurs and colleagues, setting a model for future European co-operation.

- To promote new approaches to education and training through an awareness and appreciation of old knowledge.

Artcycling Coop is implemented by a partnership of four organizations that come from such countries as Spain, Denmark, United Kingdom and Hungary.

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INTRAS FOUNDACION (Spain) is the leader organization of the Artcycling Coop. It is a non-profit institution founded on 1994. Its principal aim is to develop actions in order to improve the quality of life of people suffering from mental illness. INTRAS actually supports several artists with mental health issues, promoting their labor and social integration.

INTRAS organizes and collaborates in several cultural and artistic events and art festivals with the aim of facilitate and visualize the artistic work and talent of people with mental challenges.

CULTURA 21 NORDIC (DENMARK) is a professional association founded in 2008 for the promotion of a cultural change in the sense of a sustainable, social ecological change process, i.e. for a cultural evolution of societies and lifestyles.

Culture 21 Nordic has participated in many different projects relating to art and cultural sustainability, giving value to traditional craft and social inclusion.

RETEXTIL FOUNDATION (HUNGARY) was established in 2004 with Retextil method in its focus. Retextil is a technique to make textile thread from waste-cloths by using old and traditional procedures like spinning, weaving and knotting. Its products are lovely pieces of furniture and ornaments. Retextil is responsible for the upcycling part of the project, sharing their upcycling methods to the partners.

PACIFICSTREAM (UNITED KINGDOM) has been involved with the creative industries since 1997 and has been involved directly with organizations supporting musicians, designers and artists. Pacificstream is specialized in supporting new and existing creative industries, social enterprise and graduate entrepreneurs but has experience in supporting creative entrepreneurs of all ages and backgrounds across a diverse range of art and design related industries.

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ART AS A THERAPY Art therapy is a form of expressive therapy that

Although contemporary art therapy is a fairly

uses the creative process of making art to

new practice, art has been used since the

improve a person’s physical, mental, and

beginning of human history as a medium for

emotional well-being. In art therapy, patients

communicating thoughts and ideas. The

express their feelings not just through

oldest cave painting was found in El Castillo

discussion, but through drawing, painting,

cave in Cantabria, Spain, and dates back

sculpting and any other type of art. That's why

40,000 years to the Aurignacian period.

this type of therapy is thought to be especially

Though researchers are uncertain as to the

helpful for people who have difficulty

exact purpose of the cave drawings, it has

articulating feelings—including children and

been theorized that they were likely used as

those suffering from Alzheimer's disease, strokes

part of religious ceremonies or to reach out to

and post-traumatic stress disorder.

others in the area.

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Moving forward in history, art became an instrument for self-expression and symbolism. However, it wasn’t until the 1940s that the therapeutic use of art was defined and developed into a distinct discipline. The discipline arose independently in America and Europe. In England, the first person to refer to the therapeutic applications of art as art therapy was Adrian Hill. While being treated in a sanatorium for tuberculosis, this artist suggested participating in art projects to his fellow patients. This was just the beginning for him and he discusses much of his work as an art therapist in his book “Art Versus Illness”.

Also, in the 1940s, several writers in the mental health field began to describe their work with people in treatment as “art therapy.” As there were no formal art therapy courses or training programs available at that time, these care providers were often educated in other disciplines and supervised by psychiatrists, psychologists, or other mental health care professionals. The two pioneers of art therapy in the United States were Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer.

In the mid-forties, psychologist Margaret Naumburg began referring to her work as art therapy. Her work was based on the idea of using art to release the unconscious by encouraging free association. The resulting artwork was considered symbolic speech that the therapist encouraged the patient to interpret and analyze.

Margaret Naumburg

Dr. Edith Kramer was an Austrian woman who studied art, painting, drawing, and sculpture in Vienna. After becoming a U.S. citizen in 1944, she founded the art therapy graduate program at New York University and served as the Adjunct Professor of the program from 1973 to 2005.

Edith Kramer

By the middle of the 20th century, many hospitals and mental health facilities began to include art therapy programs after observing how this form of therapy could promote emotional, developmental and cognitive growth in children.

Art therapy has been shown to benefit people of all ages. Several researches indicate that art therapy can improve communication and concentration and can help reduce feelings of isolation. This type of therapy has also been shown to lead to increases in self-esteem, confidence, and self-awareness.

Positive results in art therapy may often be achieved by those facing issues such as: anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, substance dependency, stress, post-traumatic stress, attention deficit hyperactivity, aging and geriatric issues, cancer, compassion fatigue, heart disease, anorexia, bulimia, other eating disorders, cognitive impairments, family or relationship issues and different mental illnesses.

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THE LINK BETWEEN MENTAL ILLNESS AND CREATIVITY “Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the orange tint begins?

Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blendingly enter into the other? So with sanity and insanity.”

Herman Melville, “Billy Budd, Sailor”

The concept of a link between creativity and mental illness has been extensively discussed by psychologists and other researchers. Parallels can be drawn to connect creativity to major mental disorders including: bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and ADHD. Association between mental illness and creativity first appeared in literature in the 1970s, but the idea of a link between "madness" and "genius" is much older, dating back at least to the time of Aristotle. In order to comprehend how the connection between “madness” and “genius” correlate, first understand that there are different types of geniuses: literary geniuses, creative geniuses, scholarly geniuses, and “all around” geniuses.

Since there are many different categories, this means that individuals can completely excel in one subject and know an average, or below average, amount of information about others. The Ancient Greeks believed that creativity came from the gods, in particular the Muses (the mythical personifications of the arts and sciences, the nine daughters of Zeus). In the Aristotelian tradition, conversely, genius was viewed from a physiological standpoint, and it was believed that the same human quality was perhaps responsible for both extraordinary achievement and melancholy.

Romantic writers had similar ideals, with Lord Byron having pleasantly expressed, "We of the craft are all crazy. Some are affected by gaiety, others by melancholy, but all are more or less touched". Individuals with mental illness are said to display a capacity to see the world in a novel and original way; literally, to see things that others cannot.

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Nowadays, this concept is not a legend anymore. Studies in both psychology and medicine offer some evidences for this link. For example, a team from Oregon State University recently looked at the occupational status of a large group of typical patients and found that those with bipolar illness appear to be disproportionately concentrated in the most creative occupational category.

They also found that the likelihood of engaging in creative activities on the job is significantly higher for bipolar than non-bipolar workers. Scientists at the University of California-San Francisco comment, “It is well-established that people with affective disorders tend to be overrepresented in the creative artist population (especially those with bipolar disorder). Bipolar disorder may carry certain advantages for creativity, especially in those who have milder symptoms.” They add that bipolar patients can show unusual brain anatomy, specifically diminished frontal regulation of subcortical affective The sleep of reason produces monsters, 1799

by Francisco de Goya

systems involving the amygdala and striatum, which may increase their affective instability as well as their compulsiveness.

Those who have bipolar and are coming out of a depressive phase, often have a boost in creativity.

When this occurs, the frontal lobe of the brain shows a lot of activity, similar to what takes place when someone is concentrating in creative pursuit. A larger number of ideas increase the chance of having a really unique one. Besides, people with a psychiatric disorder have less of a mental filter. They can live comfortably with cognitive dissonance or holding two competing ideas in the mind simultaneously.

This allows for them to find tenuous associations others might miss.

Another research, held in 2012 at Royal Caroline Institute showed that artists and scientists were more common amongst families where bipolar disorder and schizophrenia is present, compared to the population at large. They subsequently expanded their study to many more psychiatric diagnoses -such as schizoaffective disorder, depression, anxiety syndrome, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, autism, ADHD, anorexia nervosa and suicide -- and included people in outpatient care rather than exclusively hospital patients. This study tracked almost 1.2 million patients and their relatives, identified down to second-cousin level. The study incorporated much of the Swedish population from the most recent decades. All data was anonymized and cannot be linked to any individuals.

The results confirmed that certain mental illness - bipolar disorder - is more prevalent in the entire group of people with artistic or scientific professions, such as dancers, researchers, photographers and authors. Furthermore, the researchers observed that creative professions were more common in the relatives of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anorexia nervosa and, to some extent, autism.

The results gave cause to reconsider approaches to mental illness.

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History knows a lot of examples of artists who suffered while creating art that millions have enjoyed. For example, legendary composer Ludwig van Beethoven is reported to have suffered from depression and, some have even speculated, bipolar disorder. That, of course, is in addition to his alcoholism, a condition that eventually led to his death due to liver damage. In the book "Diagnosing Genius: The Life and Death of Beethoven", the author François Martin Mai notes that Beethoven showed sudden changes of mood going from energetic and driven to depressed and suicidal, showing the highs and lows associated with bipolar disorder.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Painter of the famous and emotionally charged work, "The Scream", Edvard Munch, is said to have suffered from depression, agoraphobia, a nervous breakdown and to have had hallucinations, one of which inspired "The Scream". Mental illness also ran in his family, most notably with his sister. The Norwegian artist said of the relationship between his mental illness and his work, "My fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. Without anxiety and illness, I am a ship without a rudder ... my sufferings are part of myself and my art.

They are indistinguishable from me, and their destruction would destroy my art." He wrote in one of his journals, "Illness, insanity and death were the black angels that kept watch over my cradle and The Scream, 1893 by Edvard Munch

accompanied me all my life."

One another example is Vincent van Gogh. Many have guessed at the root of van Gogh's mental illness. The painter has been said to have suffered from depression (perhaps manic depression), bipolar disorder, hallucinations and episodes of derangement as well as epilepsy. He ultimately committed suicide in 1890 at the age of 37. Over time, some researchers have blamed his conditions on his love of absinthe, while others have speculated he had acute intermittent porphyria, a hereditary metabolic disorder that could account for his many symptoms as well as his family history of mental illness. Whatever the cause, van Gogh led a difficult life plagued by depression that ultimately resulted in his death.

The potato eaters, 1885 by Vincent van Gogh

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Famous Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, after gaining a degree of popularity with rococo-style tapestry cartoons, suddenly started to show a darker side. Goya’s early work was soft and kind, a world apart from his later works, for which he remains most recognized. The shift from Goya’s early works to his Black Paintings, which were painted on the walls of his home, thrills with dark themes. Goya began to go deaf, suffered a worsening nervous breakdown and doubted his own sanity. Letters between Goya’s associates illuminate the possible cause of their friend’s slowly degrading health. It’s believed Goya suffered multiple small strokes, brought about by high blood pressure, which led to his loss of hearing and poor sense of balance. Following increasing deafness, further physical and mental decline and what one ex-wife called “illicit behavior” Goya passed away at the age of 82.

Work No. 12 of the "Disparates" series, 1815-1823 by Francisco Goya

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RECOVERY PROCESS OF PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS Because art therapy allows people to express feelings on any subject through creative work rather than with speech, it is believed to be particularly helpful for those who feel out of touch with their emotions or feelings.

Art has been used in the support and treatment of mental health service users since 1900s. The goaloriented nature of creative tasks such as basket weaving, sewing and woodwork were regarded as having a therapeutic effect and the balance of challenging projects with achievable goals is still to this day deemed a very useful technique in nurturing self-esteem, and feelings of achievement and self-worth, all of which are essential aspects in the recovery of a mental illness. The belief that activity is essential for well-being means keeping active, both physically and mentally, and a holistic approach was at the fore.

However, throughout the twentieth century, mental health care was shaped by a more bio-medical approach which focused on pathology, symptom reduction and research into the more physiological aspects of mental illness such as neuroscience and genetics. This caused art therapies to decline as they were not given the same weight as more scientific, medical approaches.

Another shift came however in the 1980s with the focus returning to a more holistic bio-psycho-social approach. The idea that mental illness was not a chronic incurable condition and rise of a focus on understanding and awareness of what means to live with mental illness and respect for the wishes of the individual became prevalent.

Mental health as an issue of psychological, perceptive and emotional content once again called for the support of artistic therapies and their ability to reach beyond the superficial, symptomatic layer and address the feeling aspect of the condition.

Mental illnesses represent a complex interplay of physical, psychological, social and spiritual factors and are therefore difficult to treat. Art-based practices have attracted increasing interest in this field as they offer a person-centered and recovery-oriented approach that embraces emotional, social and spiritual needs alongside the clinical.

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A self-portrait by a Netherne psychiatric hospital patient named Graham G.

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Working on the topic, researchers decided to take an entirely scientific approach to art therapy and figure out the possible effects of this type of therapy on individuals with personality disorders. In their study, they used anecdotal observations already made by professional practitioners in the field as well as patient testimonies. Then, using axial and open coding and in-depth interviews they created a qualitative study that helps identify five benefits of art on mental health:

Insight and comprehension Individuals reported that art expression helped them to put their emotions and non-verbal experiences into words. Of note, they stated that they “experienced an inner dialogue that guided their choices while working on the art product” as well as after the art expression was completed. In other words, both creating and looking at what was created supported insight and comprehension of emotions, thoughts and behaviors and provided a better understanding of experience through facilitation of the art therapist.

Personal integration Individuals felt that through expression of their experiences in art, identity and self-image were strengthened and a more positivity was possible. Perhaps more importantly, art expressions made emotions visible, allowing them to further investigate feelings and thoughts within the course of therapy. Also, conflicting emotions could be brought together in one coherent image, something that is often impossible to do with words alone.

Emotion and impulse regulation Individuals learned through art expression to modulate emotional responses, thus experiencing more freedom from them and to “dose” and regulate emotions. In other words, art expression offered an experiential space in which individuals could experiment with new responses to difficult feelings, thus increasing a sense of self-confidence and self-efficacy.

Perception and self-perception Individuals reported that art expression helped them focus on the present moment, identify emotional responses and experience connections between emotion and body awareness. Although at times this sometimes initially felt worse, the perceptions gained became the first step in recognizing and validating emotions and a starting point for further therapeutic exploration and actions.

Behavior change In brief, behavior changes include behavior towards oneself and behavior towards others. In this study, many individuals reported that they learned to change their behavioral responses through the process of art expression. How this occurs is still difficult to say, but it may have something to do with the selfdirected nature of art expression which involves choices about what to do and how exactly to go about doing it. In others words, art therapy may provide the opportunity to actually practice alternative responses to existing personal narratives. Because this study focused on small groups, participants also may have learned more about their own behavioral patterns through interaction with others within the context of group art therapy.

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UPCYCLING PEOPLE AND THINGS Everyone has heard of recycling, but what about upcycling and what is the difference between these two notions?

Recycling is the process of turning waste into a

Upcycling is not a new concept as well. Some of

reusable material or product. It involves taking

the best examples of modern-day upcycling

common household items, such as paper, glass,

come from the 1930s-40s when families had very

and plastic, breaking down the materials, and

little economic or material resources. In this age

using them to form another product that is often

of thrift, they reused almost everything,

of lesser quality. For example, the quality of

repurposing items over and over until they were

plastic and paper slightly decreases every time it

no longer useful. Furthermore, upcycling is a way

is recycled. Recycling has been known since

of life for people in developing countries as raw

hundreds years ago. For example, recycling was

materials are expensive. So they use what they

quite common in the medieval period and was

can find to create bowls, baskets, jewelry and

done for many different reasons, and medieval

other useful and beautiful items. Upcycling

artisans were incredibly creative and crafty in

opportunities exist all around us. An old sweater,

utilizing what they had, or what they found, in

for example, can be repurposed into a case for

new and surprising ways. It was a period when

the pillows on your couch. An old pair of jeans,

fewer resources were available than before, as

combined with a little creativity, can be turned

many of the trade routes used by ancient Rome

into a great bag organizer. Coffee tins can be

had broken down and things were simply not as

upcycled into pots for small plants and flowers.

easy to come by as they had once been, so at

Upcycling projects can be as simple as folding an

times recycling was done out of a simple lack of

old newspaper into a biodegradable flowerpot.

materials. Hundreds years later, as industrial

Other options include jewelry made from

societies began to produce ever-growing

zippers, felted slippers made from the wool of

quantities of garbage, recycling took on a new

used sweaters, bags made from crocheted strips

meaning. Rather than recycling materials for

of plastic grocery bags and T-shirts turned into

purely economic reasons, communities began to

trendy children's dresses, etc. Nowadays, a

think about how to reduce the waste flow to

number of designers have thriving upcycling

landfills and incinerators.

businesses, turning used products into attractive

Upcycling is a very specific form of recycling that

garments, accessories or household accents.

turns waste into a material or product that is of a

Typically, they want their customers to know the

higher quality. You do not need to send items to

items have been creatively designed from used

a recycling center to be broken down if you want

products, reaching out to a customer base that

to upcycle. Instead, you just have to use your

appreciates this practice. The former use of the

creativity to figure out new ways to repurpose or

product is often apparent, rather than hidden, to

fashion items.

play up the creative aspect.

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When people upcycle they are not just giving an item a new purpose but also it reduces the consumption of new raw materials when creating new products.

Reducing the use of new raw materials can result in a reduction of energy usage, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions etc. Furthermore, this way people can reduce the amount of waste they create.

Upcycling is designed to work in opposition to consumer culture, encouraging people to think of new and innovative ways to use things, instead of simply buying new consumer goods. It also benefits the environment, by promoting reuse over discarding whenever possible. Plain and simple, upcycling makes a positive impact on the environment. But sometimes an impact on the people themselves is even bigger.

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I confess when I founded reestore and started upcycling, I was completely focused on the environmental benefits. Recently, however, I’ve realized that the process of making, tinkering and upcycling is actually very beneficial to many in terms of rehabilitation, mental health issues and, of course, inspiring the next generation of designers and engineers.

Max McMurdo, entrepreneur, founder of reestore upcycling company

Taking part in arts and crafts activities is both rewarding and relaxing. It is challenging but not to the extent that it leaves you mentally exhausted, which makes it perfect for destressing. It is therefore unlikely to come as a surprise that it possesses a number of health benefits. There aren’t too many things that are both enjoyable and healthy but arts and crafts fall firmly within both of these categories. A study on the topic concluded that arts and crafts aid emotional well-being to an extent that more active pursuits such as sports cannot, especially amongst old people. Crafts provide an avenue for people to take part in activities that are both engaging and enjoyable, which can help to reduce stress. Certain arts and crafts activities also offer math and geometry challenges, which help to keep the brain sharp. Besides, people doing crafts usually develop: Better coordination As we need coordination between the different senses to carry out the activity – such as painting, cutting out and sewing- we exercise and develop our eye-hand coordination, spatial awareness and motor skills.

Better self-esteem Each area of art is a specific skill and talent, and practicing the one you enjoy the most can improve those skills. Over time, you will see a noticeable improvement in the quality of your finished works, and that can boost your self-esteem. Completing a piece of art can provide tremendous satisfaction in your ability to manage the medium and express your own vision. Self-esteem is built on recognizing your own accomplishments and understanding their implications to the rest of your life. If you can do this, you can do other things, as well. Art gives you a chance to chart your growth and contemplate the outward expression of your emotions at different stages.

Creative thinking Art, music and dance are all creative forms of expression that use a different part of your brain. The creative thinking process engages your brain in different ways and produces different brain chemicals than your everyday logical thinking. It is good to exercise your brain in this way. When you are adept at creative thinking, it can be applied to problems to suggest alternative solutions.

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There is an opinion that when we are involved in creativity, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life. We know that what we need to do is possible to do, even though difficult, and sense of time disappears. In these moments we forget ourselves and feel to be a part of something more. That is because our nervous system is only capable of processing a certain amount of information at a time. That's why you can't listen and understand two people who are talking to you at once. So when someone starts creating, his existence outside that activity becomes "temporarily suspended”. He/she doesn't have enough attention left over to monitor how his body feels, or his problems at home.

The effects of art are similar to those of meditation and science; meditation can, among other things, reduce stress and fight inflammation. The repetitive motions of knitting, for example, activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which quiets those emotional responses. According to researches, patients could learn to use activities such as drawing or painting to elicit flow, which would offer a non-pharmaceutical way to regulate strong emotions such as anger or prevent irrational thoughts.

Flow could potentially help patients to dampen internal chaos.

Taking part in arts and crafts activities can help to stave off depression as well. These activities bathe one´s brain in “feel-good chemicals” and creates a kind of mental vitamin. The effects of arts and crafts are more complex than taking antidepressants and activate multiple brain areas, meaning that they can sometimes be just as effective as prescription of medication when it comes to fighting mental illness.

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ONE MAN'S TRASH IS ANOTHER MAN'S RECYCLED ART The upcycling movement is a growing trend in art around the world from the artist who creates a portrait from the strategic placement of colorful buttons to the craftsman who uses wood from an old table to create a new chair. We are going to explore the work of four diverse artists doing incredible things with recycled materials.

Vik Muniz Vik Muniz is a Brazilian artist and photographer. As a young man in Brazil, Muniz developed an interest in the arts. After being paid to keep quiet about an incident where he was shot in the leg, Muniz flew to New York City to start his creative career. He initially began as a sculptor, with his first solo exhibit occurring in 1988. Around this time, he began experimenting with drawing and photography, the latter of which would become his main focus and claim to fame. He blended sculpture with photography in a way never seen before. Vik incorporates a multiplicity of unlikely materials into this photographic process. Often working in series, he has used dirt, diamonds, sugar, string, chocolate syrup and garbage to create bold, witty and often deceiving images drawn from the pages of photojournalism and art history. His work has been met with both commercial success and critical acclaim, and has been exhibited worldwide.

Magna by Vik Muniz

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David Edgar The artist David Edgar from Charlotte, North Carolina is using recycled plastic to build sculptural artworks like lamps, fishes or crawfishes. His most famous work is probably series of sculptures called “Plastiquarium” The word describes a combination of post-consumer plastic and aquarium. The idea for Edgar’s art came after working on fabricated steel sculpture for about 30 years when he moved to Charlotte, NC, and set up a welding studio in his home. It started as he noticed the colorful and resourceful materials in neighbors’ recycling bins during his morning walks around the neighborhood.

It was not long before the “Plastiquarium” came to life. The “Plastiquarium” consists of different sculptures in the forms of fish, jellyfish and human faces made out of recycled detergent bottles. Each sculpture has a memorable name, from “Barb-Tailed Electra” to “Pink-Eyed Terror”. Most of the materials in Edgar’s sculptures are made of recycled detergent bottles that came from recycling bins in his neighborhood. He works with the plastic by cutting it apart, reshaping it and attaching different pieces together, with no new colors or paint added. According to his artist statement, Edgar’s work had been influenced by the 20th century tradition of found-object assembly, which consists of taking objects that are not usually considered art and recreating them into art. While he felt his previous work in fabricated steel sculpture drew on academic intellect, working on the “Plastiquarium” focuses on unique creativity and aesthetics.

Freddy by David Edgar

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Jane Perkins Before starting a career in the arts, Jane Perkins was first a nurse for 17 years and then a stay-at-home mom for 10 more. It wasn’t until she started studying textiles at the Somerset College of Arts and Technology in 2006 that she realized how much she enjoyed working with recycled materials and, since 2008, she’s been working exclusively in that vein.

Jane feels recycled art is a fun challenge.

She particularly enjoys the unexpected surprises she uncovers as she takes inspiration from objects she discovers at recycling centers and junkyards. These days, though, she does a lot less foraging for objects to use in her work—once people in her neighborhood found out what she did, they started leaving bags of their unwanted junk on her doorstep.

Queen Elizabeth by Jane Perkins

Aurora Robson Aurora Robson is a Canadian-American artist who works in sculpture, installation, painting and collage focusing on themes related to the environment. Aurora Robson was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1972 but grew up in Hawaii and has lived in New York for 20 years. She has a BA in Visual Art & Art History from Columbia University and is a certified structural welder. Robson uses everyday waste such as discarded plastic bottles and junk mail to create intricate sculptures, installations, and collages. Aurora Robson estimates that so far, she has salvaged about 30,000 plastic bottles, preventing them from entering our landfills, oceans, and the costly recycling system. With this seemingly cold and unyielding material, Robson masterfully creates sweeping organic sculptures and installations that hint at sea life and space. In addition to her three dimensional works, she also works in collage, using her own junk-mail as her medium.

Everything All At Once, Forever by Aurora Robson

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SHOWCASING THE POWER OF ART Once someone has started to exhibit keen interest and thorough enjoyment in their process of creation, it is time for considering art with a defined purpose. Recently there were several exhibitions and showrooms held to present the art of people with mental health issues and support them in taking their art on a new level. Such showcasing is also an opportunity to present artists with mental health issues in a positive light and breakdown any current prejudices.

In summer 2017 there was an exhibition called “Here & Now” in Nottingham held by The Institute of Mental Health. It was the ninth open exhibition and it ran in partnership with City Arts Nottingham. The exhibition showcased the work of 33 artists, from across the United Kingdom. They ranged from people with personal experience of mental health issues to artists inspired by the theme, as well as mental health professionals. Their diverse and intriguing artworks captured a range of different ways that unique moments affect our mental health.

Untitled, 2017 by Phil Robinson

Artcycling Coop project partners organized national showrooms to show their creations to as much people as possible. For example, in summer 2017 the team of artcyclers in INTRAS organized an open day in the day center for people with mental illness in Toro (Zamora, Spain). It was a party for the team before the summer break and also an attempt to share their work with the whole town. A big party to celebrate the summer, the art and the creativity. The artistic creations made by the artcyclers (recycled-fabrics carpets, ceramics, vertical gardens, sofa covers made of jeans, etc.) were showed to the general public and explained by the own artists: what they wanted to express, how do they did it, which materials did they use, etc.

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Another great place to observe artworks of artists with mental health problems is the Outsider Gallery in London, an art gallery that is centered entirely on mental health. Founded by an artist Ben Wakeling and a music therapist Jon Hall, the gallery works like this: It offers music and art therapy sessions, in which those with mental health issues can create art and work through illness, and then showcases the work. All the work on show at the gallery has been created by people with mental illness. People can be referred to the program by their doctors, and can choose whether to get help through music therapy or art therapy. Music therapy involves improvisation, songwriting, recording, and making a music video to help patients gain confidence and get back on track after stays in hospital. Art sessions allow those referred to make their own artwork and explore their issues in the process, with the pieces created either going up in the gallery or working as artwork for covers of CDs created in music therapy sessions.

Outsider Gallery. Picture: Molly Manning Walker

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MENTAL HEALTH AND ARTS CELEBRATION There are several well-known mental health arts festivals held all over the world. By engaging with artists and connecting with communities they celebrate the artistic achievements of people with experience of mental health issues, explore the relationship between creativity and the mind, reduce stigma, change perceptions around mental health and promote positive mental health and wellbeing.

Some of the most famous are listed below.

The Big Anxiety Festival The Big Anxiety festival – a University of New South Wales initiative run over seven weeks in Sydney – is trying to not only get people talking about their mental health, but also to alleviate some of the associated pain. One of the biggest mental health and arts festivals in the world, it features artists and scientists from around Australia and internationally, staging more than 60 events. These include relaxing art installations and talks and revolves around five major themes: • Awkward Conversations explores the way we communicate, especially when it comes to discussing difficult subjects like suicide and anxiety.

• Lived Experiences examines the nitty gritty of life like trauma, loss, recovery and hope through the lens of creativity and vulnerability • Neurodiverse City celebrates diversity of the mind by asking why difference prompts anxiety and stigmatization.

• Power, Politics and Institutions investigates the

Resting beneath the clouds inside the Snoosphere.

Picture: Steven Siewert

increasing struggle to maintain mental health in

impact when it comes to mental health.

our fast-paced, hyper-connected society and the

It’s not just a diversion – there is evidence that it

hand that institutions play in perpetuating illness.

impacts on mood and wellbeing,” she says. This

• Mood Experiments uncovers the way our

connection is “something that we don’t tend to

environment can drastically influence the way we

exploit – so we wanted to create something

experience the world.

new in the cultural landscape”.

The festival is the brainchild of Prof Jill Bennett.

This year the festival was held from 2 of

"There’s a lot of evidence that art has a lot of

September till 11 of November.

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Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival is an annual programme of theatre, film, music, comedy and visual art from some of the most exciting artists in Scotland and across the world, spanning over 300 events and 17 areas in Scotland.

The festival started in 2007 as a small-scale event with the idea of using the arts to reduce stigma and challenge prejudices surrounding mental health. “When it comes to changing people’s minds about something, a really good film, play or piece of music can be far more effective than a poster campaign, because it has a human story that people can relate to,” Andrew Eaton-Lewis, arts lead of the Mental Health Foundation, told. “It’s a community festival at heart and this community is one that now spans across Scotland and the rest of the world.”

Each year the festival chooses a single word as a central theme for artists, activists and community organizations to respond to and engage with. This year, the festival coordinators voted for the word “reclaim.” This choice was made to reflect, for example, how people reclaim their place in society after a period of mental ill health. However, it is open for interpretation, with some artists choosing to reclaim spaces or language.

The annual festival takes place in venues across Scotland from 10-29 October. It has over 300 events and 25,000 attendees across Scotland each October. Its innovative approach, combining high quality artistic events with community led programming and a social justice agenda, has been replicated internationally.

The main aims of SMHAFF are to challenge perceptions, make connections, develop audiences and encourage participation.

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Fes-Map Festival de Arte y Salud Mental de los Pirineos Fes-map festival is a part of a growing network of festivals that seeks to join efforts to eradicate stigmas related to mental health through artistic projects. The main goal of fes-map is to be a framework and platform for artists, filmmakers, associations and researchers in the fight to eradicate the stigma that people affected by mental health problems suffer in society. At the same time, it seeks to internationalize local actions and bring global proposals to territories far from large cities.¨ The festival takes place between October and November, coinciding with the friend festival Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival which collaborates annually with the Fes-map. The headquarters is located in Ayerbe and Huesca and develops activities in other locations in the Aragonese and Navarrese Pre-Pyrenees such as Abizanda and Pamplona.

This year the festival was held from 15 of September till 31 of November. There were over 60 activities that took place in different parts of the Pyrenees, from San Sebastián to Girona, passing through Pamplona, Ejea, Ayerbe, Huesca, Jaca, Monzón, Sabiñánigo, Zaragoza and Lleida.

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Intellectual rights of this publication belongs to FundaciĂłn INTRASÂ Special thanks to Anna Myropolska for her collaboration

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein