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’.

More than 1 in 10 people are likely to have a ‘disabling anxiety disorder’ at some stage in their life and feelings of uncertainty are central to this. In 2019, 40% of disability worldwide is attributed to depression and anxiety. The people taking part in this exhibition included artists with personal experience of mental health issues, artists inspired by the theme, and professionals working in the field of mental health. Their work captures a different way that people experience and cope with anxiety, uncertainty, self-doubt and fear of the unknown.

Madeline Holmes, Director at City Arts, said:

“This exhibition shows many different ways that people can be affected by uncertainty and the unknown. It includes work from artists with anxiety disorders like OCD, artists who have experienced psychosis and struggled to separate reality from delusion, and artists affected by the uncertainty surrounding our current political situation. We are pleased to once again be working with the Institute to produce this fascinating exhibition.”

Professor Martin Orrell, Director of the Institute of Mental Health, said:

“We are delighted to host another open exhibition in collaboration with City Arts. Each year the exhibition grows. It is clear that this year’s theme proved a catalyst for inspiration as we had record numbers of entries to judge.”

Works on display include: Claudia Milena González’s The Mirror, which depicts a woman with dementia struggling to recognise her own reflection; Ellie Harper’s Alienation, which look at how anxiety prevents people from carrying out everyday tasks; and Frocktopus’s Catch 22 Collages the creation of which help mitigate the symptoms of her OCD.

The exhibition launched on 5^th June and ran until 11th October. Exhibiting artist Liz Atkin gave a special guest talk in early September to discuss her inspiration and work. Liz is an internationally acclaimed visual artist and mental health advocate. She has Compulsive Skin Picking, a complex physical and mental disorder. However, she re-imagines the body-focused repetitive behaviour of her skin picking and anxiety into drawings, photographs, and performances. Her work has featured on TEDx, BBC, Huffington Post, Mashable, and Channel News Asia.

The exhibition ran from 5 June to 11 October 2019.

About City Arts

Founded in 1977, City Arts is a vibrant cultural hub, which produces art made collaboratively between the artists and communities of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. Through its work in the visual arts, the performing arts and the written word, City Arts promotes inclusivity and access to great art as a basic human right. The annual exhibition with the Institute of Mental Health builds on its proud history of supporting people with mental health issues to express themselves creatively. City Arts is a registered charity and is supported by Arts Council England and Nottingham City Council.