World Mental Health Day at GV Art gallery | Friday 10 October 2014, from 12.00 noon
Kevin Mitchinson, Two Voices, 2012, acrylic on paper
World Mental Health Day
Friday 10 October from 12 noon onwards
at GV Art gallery, London
GV Art gallery, London and the SHARP gallery are delighted to be working in partnership to celebrate World Mental Health Day on 10 October 2014. This year the theme is living with schizophrenia, and we are raising awareness by hosting a series of events and talks throughout the day to celebrate and explore wellbeing and mental health.
The SHARP gallery are hosting (from 11am – 2pm) an open view of Who’s Self Portrait an exhibition of works by artists with experiences of hearing voices or holding unusual beliefs. The event includes the opportunity to connect with others, local information sharing, tea and cake, creative writing and mindfulness workshops
Download the press release here
Lunch-time 12 – 2pm. Drop in gallery for mindfulness yoga sessions by Harpal Sahota
Afternoon 3 – 5pm. A workshop on nutritional food to help improve wellbeing and mood with a special ‘healthy’ afternoon tea, prepared by Kalwant Sahota. SeeKays Cookery at www.kayscookery.com
Evening 6.30 – 9 pm. An evening of presentations from Dr David O’Flynn, Dr Olivia Sagan, Andrew Locke and Dr Tom Ward.
The evening will be concluded with a special “micro-performance” by critically acclaimed Elastic Theatre. Directed by Jacek Ludwig Scarso, this is part of his new Character Portraits series: short live immersions created specifically for exhibition spaces and reimagining psychological turning points of iconic characters. In this piece, soprano Maya Sapone, accompanied by violinist Samy Bishai, presents a semi-improvised portrait of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
6.30 pm Arrive
7.00 pm Presentations and open discussion
9.00 pm End
Biographies
Dr David O’Flynn, Consultant Psychiatrist (SLaM) and Chair of Adamson Collection.
http://www.slam.nhs.uk/about-us/art-and-history/the-adamson-collection
Dr Tom Ward, Kings College London. Therapy Co-ordinator; Avatar Study, Brixton (SLaM) –. Avatar therapy is a novel approach to working with a person who hears distressing voices. Starting by creating a computer avatar of the voice they hear, using special software to choose both the way it looks and the way it sounds. Guided by a trained therapist, the person then practices asserting themselves in direct conversations with the avatar, in order to achieve a sense of confidence, power and control.
Andrew Locke, Media production professional, expert by experience. Premier of Locke’s short film of the closing night of the Adamson Festival 2014 – working title “insulin coma dreams”. Locke co-produced the Thou Art film.
Dr Olivia Sagan, Academic Co-ordinator Psychology, Bishop Grosseteste University; Researcher & lead producer of Thou Art film and author of Narratives of art practice and mental wellbeing: connection and reparation published October 2014 (Routledge). http://www.thouart.org