GCU student creates powerful art piece as part of a creative mental health exhibit
A GCU student has had the opportunity to express her feelings towards mental health in a creative way, thanks to an art exhibition.
Masters of Research student Natalia Jedras has delved into her creative side by developing a colorful art piece, which reflects her mental health journey.
Natalia’s work has been displayed at the “Out of Sight, Out of Mind 2022” exhibit at Edinburgh’s Summerhall, which shares the stories of those who have experienced issues with their mental health.
Now celebrating it’s 10th anniversary, the exhibit has allowed individuals to express themselves and share their feelings towards mental health struggles.
Natalia’s expressive piece conveys the idea of rising from the ashes, and includes a mixture of colourful textiles to show a person rising from flames. The meaning behind the piece reflects Natalia’s mental health journey and how she has been able to emerge on the other side as a new person.
Natalia Jedras, who has taken part in the exhibit for a few years now, has enjoyed being a part of an exhibit which helps advocate the need to speak up about mental health and exploring the different ways in which people can do this.
Natalia explained: “The Out of Sight, Out of Mind exhibit allows people to share their mental health experiences in a way in which words fail to do. The art shown at the exhibit comes in many forms; sculptures, videos, short films and many more. This year, there were over 200 exhibitors at the event and there was a short film at the launch of the exhibit, which included people from the very first one – which was a nice way to mark the 10th anniversary.
I’ve been involved in the exhibit for 4 years, but this is the first time that I’ve had my work shown at it for a couple of years – I’ve just been so busy!”
She added: “The piece of art that I made is a person who is rising from the ashes, as if they are transforming into something new and different to who they were before. When looking back at my previous pieces, you can really tell the difference because what I have created this year is so much more positive than what I created before.
At older exhibits, I submitted poems that I wrote when I was 14 or 15 at a time where I was going through a really bad state of depression. You could tell that I was really down and facing difficulties at the time, but this year’s piece really shows that I’ve been able to move past that and make plans for the future.
It’s made out of little crochet circles, multi-coloured cotton and yarn circles so there’s lots of different textures involved. The idea was to show the journey towards a better point of mental health.”
Natalia has found creativity to be so beneficial in her mental health journey, and is even looking to explore how this can be explored through her studies. She said: “I would definitely say that I am a creative person! When I did my undergraduate degree here at GCU (Applied Psychology), I took a lot of dance classes which was a good creative release for me as well.
I try to use my creative side when it comes to my coursework, using creative techniques to help make the learning stick – especially during the pandemic when everything was online.
As part of my recovery, the first thing I did was something called ‘art therapy’, which helped me express myself and this allowed to me to explain things more clearly to my therapist. At first, I was really unsure about how to communicate my feelings properly but doing this really helped.”
She added: “Mental health advocacy is really important to me, especially in relation my research interests as well. I’m looking to do some work on neurodivergence and how therapists can adapt their services to suit the needs of a neurodivergent person.”
Natalia has become a part of a growing community of mental health advocates and feels grateful to witness the mental health journeys of the exhibitors. She said: “For those who have took part for a few years now, we’re able to see the progression of their mental health journeys and what stage they are at – it’s amazing. It’s great getting to come together and see all of the work we have created.”
Find out about the Out of Sight, Out of Mind exhibit on their website
By Rachael McAlonan
Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media here