READ THE PURPLE HIGHLIGHTED BITS

I...might have gone a bit over the word count for this one - so I'm going to highlight the most important information and anything else is extra research.

ONLY READ THE PURPLE HIGHLIGHTED BITS - I HIGHLIGHTED WHAT I HOPE TO BE RELEVANT BITS OF MY RESEARCH BUT YOU MAY READ FURTHER IF YOU WISH TO: IN JUST THE PURPLE HIGHLIGHTED BITS I AM AT 4041 WORDS.

(1)"Creative expression is helpful to healthy human development and recovery from mental distress. Formal arts therapies for people with mental health problems aim to help people draw on their inner, creative resources while exploring personal issues with a trained arts therapist in a safe, contained space, in order to achieve psychological change. People who have used arts therapies say they provide a greater sense of choice and control than medication or talking therapies."

(1)https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/a/arts-therapies

Tutorial talk with Kieran - new brief for experiments.

Yesterday I had a talk with my tutor, Kieran Phelps and he suggested as my work so far has been looking into the visualization of mental disorders; that I have a look at creating my own designs. What I plan to do is a thorough experiment which will become six separate experiments on this subject. I am going to start by drawing my interpretation of each mental illness/disorder. Then I will ask people who suffer from said illness/disorder to brief me on what they think it should look like.

For instance a lot of artists who draw mental illnesses often draw them from what they interpret them to be. However in these experiments, I will have the people who actually have to live with these things tell me how they should look - i.e. bigger teeth, smaller, bigger, scales, posture, color ect. In doing so they will brief me on what they feel it should look like and I will draw another creature. then I will take that creature to the next person with anxiety, depression, ADHD ect, and ask if it represents what they have. Then they will ask me to tweak and change bits, which I will do again to create a whole new character. I plan to go to five or six different people for each disorder.

  Hopefully this experiment will show me how different people who are going through the same things see their problem as different entities. It will show me development , teach me to work to a brief and to match exactly what people tell me to do and see in their heads.  It will also be concept art, in a way.  At the end of the experiment for each one I will record the changes I had to make and why and what the people said, also I will record how each experience made me feel; whether I have a better understanding of the disorder now or not.

So - six disorders, five or six people for each - so that's five or six drawings for each. I will make a new page for each set of developing experiences.

Mental health illustrations further visual research by Shawn Coss

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References:

(1)http://educateinspirechange.org/inspirational/art/illustrated-mental-illness-disorders-inktober/

NEXT STEP -MORE IDEAS FOR EXPERIEMENTS

 Ok first of all - Artshape never got back to me so that idea is out of the window.

• How visual stimuli effects moods;
• show people different images with different colours and record how it makes them feel. Visual triggers?
• Guy does self portrait every year as his Alzheimer's gets worse? How it started normal and ended really surreal.
• Self-portraits on different kind of drugs? vaguely relates to mental health I suppose. Get flatmates drunk and get them to draw themselves? Before and after?
• Synaesthesia - seeing words as colour. colour relates to a sense. Sound, sight, smell, ect.  (I know someone with this whom I could interview)
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• There's a guy who makes images out of numbers - maths. He turns equations and numbers into art.

ArtShape

http://www.artshape.co.uk/

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Mark told me about this project Artshape which is to help people suffering from things such as abusive relationships, racism victims, over 50's ,people with mental health and disabilities, learning and physical, and Homeless and unemployed people. This is a perfect thing for me to look into. They help people with mental health issues through art. their slogan is 'Enhancing people's lives through access to the arts'.

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I would love the chance to go and talk to these people and see how they work with people and study their processes. Their aim is to motivate people and build their confidence.  To build strong relationship skills too.They thrive with volunteer work. (2)They work with individuals as well as group-work. I have sent them an email and eagerly await their response. I would love the chance to sit in on one of their sessions and see how they use art to help people.



References

http://www.artshape.co.uk/

(1)http://www.artshape.co.uk/gallery.aspx
(2)http://www.artshape.co.uk/aboutus/who.aspx
(3)http://www.artshape.co.uk/contactus.aspx
(4)http://www.artshape.co.uk/aboutus.aspx

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mood board of interesting mental health illustration by Toby Allen

TOBY ALLEN

http://www.boredpanda.com/mental-illnesses-illustrated-by-monsters-by-toby-allen/

Toby Allen is an artist with anxiety who cleverly recreated different mental health problems, as little illustrations, which are both endearing, yet at the same time could be quite frightening.  I decided to include some of his work as it is another stepping stone in my research and I find his work quite interesting. Also his interpretation of each illness is extremely fascinating. 

All of these pictures of his work are from the links above.  

He doesn't illustrate disorders, just illness's but I will include them all anyway as they are quite interesting to look at. Firstly I'll include the few illness's I am looking at myself for this project. Then underneath I will put his other creations. In a way, I suppose by physically manifesting these conditions as something to look at, it could make sufferers feel like they have something to focus on specifically, instead of just the 'idea' of an invisible yet highly debilitating condition. 

I also think that as monsters are something that we don't really believe in because we can't see them, Its a play on that - people don't believe in mental illness's much unless they've either had one or had someone in their lives have one - so by combining the two hes created something that's real yet not. People don't believe it because they can't see it. Kind of what I'm planning on doing with the mental illness's and disorders in my FMP. By turning them into mythical creatures; dragons. Just because we can't see things doesn't mean they don't exist. 

Other conditions he's recreated: