Art at the Institute

The Institute of Mental Health is no longer displaying regular art exhibitions.

We would llike to thank all the artists who have displayed their artwork within the corridoors of the Institute throughout the years, and everyone who has visited us to take a look at the variety of art that has been on display.

Below you can find a collection of all the previous exhibitions:

Light by Catherine D'Arcy-Saunders

Monday 28th April - Friday 1st August 2025

This new body of work explores the broad concept of Protection and Light. It is born out of a desire to help understand and navigate our lives in a postmodern era of ongoing global unrest and environmental uncertainty. Catherine's paintings are large, abstract and expressionistic. There are underlying motifs within the paintings associated with the surface of skin, materiality from archival lace research and her own personal experiences of ceremony and the spiritual.

22nd January - 21st April 2025

The Art of Mental Stealth… a comic approach was a project that thought creatively about how to deliver mental health messaging and interventions for young people in Nottingham, by nurturing creative skills in visual storytelling as a bridge to self-awareness, expression and shared understanding.

Art work of Andy Farr's, under the words 'Transformative Pahways'

18th November 2024 - 14th January 2025

Alongside the exhibition was a launch event 'Transformative Pathways'

23rd September - 4th November 2024

An exhibition on the war in Ukraine, showcasing a range of paintings, artworks and pictures from both UK and Ukrainian artists.

1st July - 23rd August 2024

Christine Thomas, a neurodivergent artist, was the recipient of an artist studio residency at BACKLIT, as part of a collaborative project between QUAD, BACKLIT and CANDAL to support a neurodivergent artist to develop her artistic practice.

5th April - 24th June 2024

From the successful project ‘What’s Up With Everyone?’ lead by Professor Paul Crawford, Director of the Centre for Social Futures in collaboration with Aardman Animations.

5th January – 16th February 2024

Andy was commissioned to work with a group of people from across the Black and South Asian communities at the University of Nottingham (UoN). He explored their experiences of mental health and emotional wellbeing.

Oil painting of a white tree on a dark grey background — "Worry Tree" 2023, Oil on canvas by Catherine D'Arcy Saunders

27 October – 15 December 2023

Catherine D'Arcy -Saunders is an early-stage artist and practicing psychotherapist exploring the complex interface between anxious thoughts and feelings, using bold, abstract and expressionistic artwork.

Friday 2 June - Friday 7 July 2023

‘I wanted to explore how to communicate and transfer visually an emotion or frustration. Consideration is given to the process of making as well as material used to express the delicate but resilient nature of skin.’

Painting of a woman's face using purple, blue, white paint.

Friday 31st March – Friday 26 May 2023

This is the first major solo exhibition of artworks by Nottingham artist Catherine Levey who has worked in the NHS for many years, with a special interest in mental health.

An advertisement for an art exhibition called Re-Imagine The text reads: Young artists represent and reflect on experiences of mental health issues - it features a painting in pink and teal tones of a human form, possibly female , with two faces. There are two logos in the bottom right - one for the Institute of Mental Health and one for City Arts.

August - November 2022

The Institute of Mental Health once again teamed up with Nottingham charity City Arts to launch an online exhibition, Re-Imagine.

Image of dancer taken by Colin Potsig

January - March 2020

An exhibition of photographs by Colin Potsig was shown at the Institute of Mental Health, in collaboration with City Arts Nottingham.

When we were unable to host exhibitions inside our building during Covid restrictions in 2021, we teamed up with our long-standing artistic collaborators and curators, City Arts Nottingham, to instead hold our first digital exhibition.

We were delighted that artworks by American artist Susan Spangenberg were curated to form the "Escaping Childhood" online exhibition via the City Arts website.

Female resident in dementia care home

A series of photographs taken in July 2018 at the day Centre “Il Nodo”, situated at the feet of the Italian Pennines in the central Region of Abruzzo, explore the day to day life in an Italian dementia care home. Stemming from the research experience in the field of dementia social and health care of Alessandro Bosco and Dr Claudio Di Lorito, the latest exhibition at the Institute captures the beauty of the every day.

Detail from "Inner Self" artwork by Anthony Gariff

Nottingham charity City Arts teamed up with the Institute of Mental Health for the 2019 summer art exhibition looking at people’s experience of mental health issues. The exhibition was called ‘Uncertainty and the Unknown’.

Credit for image: Sk172 "Character" painting

The Institute of Mental Health welcomed an emerging new East Midlands artist to exhibit their work from 25th March to 17th May 2019.

Sk172 is a Cambridgeshire-based artist who paints using acrylic on diverse and often found surfaces.

"Alchemy and the Phoenix" Image by Andy Farr

The Institute of Mental Health's autumn/winter 2018/2019 exhibition was a collaborative project working with artist Andy Farr to create a series of paintings that will help people to understand post-traumatic stress.

Each painting was based on a personal account of the impact of trauma on someone’s life. The paintings showed how people can grow during their recovery, as well as helping others to understand the feelings that trauma can create.

Around 1 in 3 adults in England report having experienced at least one traumatic event. Trauma can cause mental illness. It can also be a symptom of it.

Image of artwork by Jodie Beardmore — Image courtesy of Jodie Beardmore

The IMH's 2018 annual summer exhibition launched on 16 May 2018. Entitled ‘Traumascapes & Landscapes of the Interior’ we worked with Nottingham charity City Arts to create a new art exhibition to explore people’s experience of trauma, and to ask "Can art heal emotional scars?".

"Roots" by Angie Martin ran from October 2017 to January 2018. The solo arts exhibition by Nottinghamshire artist Angie Martin was entitled 'Roots' and coincided with World Mental Health Day.

"Being Elsewhere" was an exhibition featuring work by Nottingham-based photographer Rinzing Kelsang. The exhibition was held at the Institute from 2 March 2018, launching to coincide with Eating Disorders Awareness Week. The exhibition ran until April 30 2018.

A sculpture by Ekkehard Altenburger, entitled House for a Gordion Knot, was commissioned to mark the opening of the new Institute of Mental Health building.

Our older previous exhibitions and activities have also been inspiring and enlightening; capturing visitors' imaginations.