By KATH GANNAWAY
“WE are part of the community as well; and it’s OK to have mental illness.”
That’s the message that Robyn Kennett believes Metamorphosis, a collective exhibition by several groups in the Yarra Valley, will send to the wider community.
The exhibition opened on Saturday at the Upper Yarra Arts Centre in Warburton with works by more than 50 artists from local mental health services – CAHMA in Yarra Junction and Rivendell in Healesville, represented.
The artwork ranges from ceramics, pottery and jewellery to visual arts such as painting and drawing.
Robyn and Susan King come from artistic backgrounds and have found a creative outlet for dealing with mental illness through art.
“It’s a meditation for me,” Robyn said as she works on one of the whimsical pieces that will feature in the exhibition.
“I feel as though this is my place of being me, and being lost in my creativity.
“I never ever start off making something. I just start making, and it turns into whatever it turns into,” she said.
In a practical sense, being part of the program, run by art therapist Niki Moko, has helped Robyn learn different techniques and skills, she says, she never knew she could cultivate.
For Susan, CAHMA is like a second home.
“I’ve always been creative and liked learning new, creative things. I enjoy being with the group here. It’s relaxing, good fun and I have good friends here.
“We have a lot of laughs,” she said.
Niki says some of the most amazing works come from people who have never had the benefit of the artistic family backgrounds that Robyn and Susan have had.
“People get surprised that they can do it; it’s just finding an interest and what they can do,” she said.
As the women work on their exhibition pieces, there is agreement in the art-space that the stigma associated with mental illness is starting to lift as awareness grows. But there’s a way to go.
“When you have a mental illness, you feel as though a lot of people don’t accept who you are, so being able to do something like this, where you feel successful within yourself, makes you feel accepted in something within the world,” explains Robyn.
“This is something that’s within me, which gives me self-acceptance and self-esteem to be able to create something.”
Susan said the atmosphere, as the groups prepare for the exhibition, had been exciting, colourful and wonderful, bringing everyone together.
Robyn said the exhibition showed that mental illness was not a dark, taboo thing to be scared of.
“This is something bright and fruitful.
“We are together, and we’re putting on an exhibition together,” she said.
Many of the exhibition pieces are on sale (just in time for Christmas!).
The opening of Metamorphosis coincides with Mental Health Week. The exhibition closes on 31 October.
