Darren MacPherson

This is an artist piece by Darren, based on the mental health of young people. It was created over lockdown by the artist to highlight and protest to others the increasing mental health in young people over lockdown. I feel this is very important as I don’t feel this is fully considered by the government at the moment through the lockdown as most of the attention is directed towards coronavirus. The artists states himself that he works as a social worker part time and experiences the troubles of young people and what they have gone through. It is also highlighted through the suicide figures throughout lockdown highlighting that it has increased much more and even taking over the sadness in the deaths associated with the coronavirus. The artist states himself that he’s not here to belittle the coronavirus but just make others aware that mental health is still a very big relevant issue in the world today . The artist uses expressive bright colours to highlight the intricate many problems in which young people go through and the craziness that it brings. He makes bold lines around the face and hair and draws over the face to give the visual representation of the mental health being hidden. I interpret it as the freedom that young people in their lives are trapped on the inside. I feel this work is very effective as I myself suffered with mental health through lockdown. It creates a visual representation using effective colours in order to make it a bold and to protest against and make young peoples mental health known and not just hidden.

Kim Noble

 

This piece by Kim represents how over lockdown she as an adult was still suffering with her own mental health already. It highlighted her struggles as before lockdown she was in and out of hospital struggling with her own identity. She has many different personality’s , 14 of them being different artists. Over lockdown she created this work, highlighting her struggle to stay in her normal routine. Not being able to talk to people face to face and socialise , and finding it hard to concentrate in front of a computer. This is again another mental health protest but highlighting that it’s not just young people that suffered with mental health but adults too, bound down to their kids or having no work and given money worries which they never had before. Her work I feel is very bold with using the red paint for the bodies. I interpret this bold red being a sense of danger and that she could be a danger to herself being locked up. I also love the imagery of the shackles being tided to the walls highlighting the image of lockdown and how you are bound to the only walls in your own house. Her work protests against the “normalities” of life and that all of our lives are very “normal”, sticking to the stereotypes that everyone’s life is all happiness and no one experiences sadness. She adds the body at the top with a piece of writing to highlighting that voices in her own head that are telling her to do things. I love this piece of work as it is very simplistic but highlights such an important message , making it relevant for everyone.