flowers monoprint edited on photoshop

Be Kind ...Always

For my poster theme I will  be portraying the theme of Mental health stigma and the damage that it can cause the sufferers lives.

It has not been unheard of to call people with mental health problems such as Autism ,

Depression ,Schizophrenia ,Bi-polar ,names and monstersize and blame people suffering from these conditions ,as if that is going to help!

So I am venting my frustration at social ignorance and intolerance in a way that I feel will give people insight into mental health and maybe reasure those who do suffer on a daily basis throughout their lives.

‘Who Am I?’  Was a project undertaken in where by a group of five disabled people chose words to describe themselves and illustrate that it's important to see the people beyond the labels.

We all have many labels, those that we give ourselves and those that we give each other.

We all want to be valued and understood. What is important to us is who we are and how we live our lives. No two people are alike. So why do we find it so hard to look Beyond the Label, especially if one of them happens to be disability?

This one word can be isolating, yet it has to be used to access the support services which can make life easier.

"Language is a funny thing because it categorises people, I do have to say I am a wheelchair user because of access issues, getting into places. In an ideal world I wouldn't have to." Sophie

© 2015 Colchester & Ipswich Museums

I was very inspired by this project as I felt it was along the lines of what I wanted to do, in the sense that it was the same theme line and also the same method of using photography/writing based work to convey a specific theme.

 Other artists I looked at included Casey Morgan on PhotoBucket.com

And ‘The Homeless Poet’s Photo Bucket, (Background and banner pictures) below.

I felt my research was strong as I had also researched many different postures relating to the body language appropriate to the theme I was choosing to explore.eg. sitting down- could be construed as  vulnerability or despair ,Hands over face could be seen as defensive or feeling threatened. Anxiety and head in hands-sorrow. I feel my research into body language set the mood for the theme of protest in relation to mental health problems and the sufferers.