Artists channel creativity into mental wellness awareness

Dr Leverne Mountany together with Susan Neetling from Mindful wanted to celebrate the bravery of people with mental health problems through an art exhibition held on October 21 in Broadacres.

Dr. Mountany is a psychiatrist from Tabula Rasa Wellness. She said they decided to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month through art because of how art can be therapeutic to one’s soul.

She said after she realised that most of her patients are also artists, she thought of getting them together to exhibit their work.

“On the day, we had about ten artists who participated in the exhibition. We talked about mental health challenges and how art can play a role in improving creativity and can be a therapeutic technique to assist people with their mental health struggles. We had various guests who shared some great insights about mental health and art.”

The exhibition was named Reflections Revealed: Artistry in Kaleidoscopic Minds. She said this because art reflects someone’s personal experience, ‘so it was more about unveiling other parts of people’s experiences and their creative sides’. And when you look at the exhibition, we had different styles, mediums, there were those who sold ceramic work, paintings with charcoal, etc. hence kaleidoscopic minds because it was such a variant exhibition.”

She said this was their first exhibition and after seeing how well received it was, they are determined to host another one in October next year.

“It was such a success. The artists were spectacular. So, there is no doubt, we are going to make it an annual thing. The exhibition is still going on till December 15 because we want to give more exposure to the artists. A lot of the artists exhibited for the very first time, so this is an opportunity for them to get even more exposure.”

Artist Brian Molepo’s work proved to be among the big sellers at the event.

Meanwhile, Elsabe and Alwyn Pienaar, a couple from Hartbeespoort Dam, collaborated with Elsabe creating the art while Alwyn mounted her work.

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