Artists and mental health - a-n The Artists Information Company

Resource Profile

Artists and mental health: Liz Atkin, #CompulsiveCharcoal artist

London-based artist Liz Atkin creates work both in response to and as way of coping with compulsive skin picking. Alistair Gentry finds out more about her art practice, and the advocacy and education work she undertakes to help others understand and deal with this and other body-focused repetitive behaviour conditions.

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Resource Guide

Artists and mental health: experiences and strategies

Based on conversations with artists, Alistair Gentry reflects on the stigma that still exists around mental health, and discusses some of the coping strategies artists use in their work and careers when affected by mental health problems.

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Resource Profile

Artists and mental health: The Bethlem Gallery

The Bethlem Gallery in Bromley provides a professional platform for artists who have experienced mental health difficulties. Alistair Gentry speaks to the gallery’s director Beth Elliot about the organisation and how it fosters a supportive artist-focussed environment.

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Resource Profile

Artists and mental health: Hospital Rooms

Hospital Rooms is an arts and mental health charity that believes in the enduring power of the arts to instill value, dignity and wellbeing in people. Alistair Gentry speaks to Curator Niamh White about how the project enables access to art and culture for people using secure and locked mental health services.

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Resource Profile

Artists and wellbeing: Ria Hartley, ecologies of care artist

ecologies of care was initiated by artist Ria Hartley in 2018. The project comprises a growing toolkit of resources designed to support artists who have access requirements to express their needs. Hartley speaks to Lydia Ashman about the toolkit and why artists’ health and wellbeing should be a sector-wide priority. This resource is available in text format and also as a video format sound recording.

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News News comment

Artists and mental health: a conversation that needs to get louder

When artist and writer Alistair Gentry first shared his experiences of depression earlier this year it resulted in a flood of private feedback and led a-n to commission a series on artists and mental health for our Resources section. Drawing on the conversations he’s had with artists and arts workers, he argues for more openness about mental illness and wellness in the arts.

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News News comment

Artists and mental health: depression is neither romantic nor inevitable

Do the pressures of being an artist, with the precariousness of funding, the demands of unrealistic deadlines and the need to be seen to succeed and deliver consistently, make talking about depression and mental health tantamount to career suicide? Artist and writer Alistair Gentry, who has suffered with depression since a teenager, thinks the answer is ‘Yes’ – but that the issue is too important to keep quiet about.

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