Other Ways of Knowing*
An exhibition featuring artists with lived experience of mental health +/- substance use issues.
May 6 - 29, 2022
*In our window gallery located at #100-938 Howe Street
Featuring Katie Cummings, Christine Delay, Carrie Hill, Mina Mitic, Clare Palmer, Bart Vulliamy, and Aileen Yadokoro
Art can provide a deeper understanding of the lived experience of mental health and substance use issues – both for artists themselves and for the viewer. This exhibition aims to step beyond limiting societal perceptions of these artists by presenting artworks with narratives that are often left out, misrepresented, or misunderstood.
Katie Cummings
Myriad
Acrylic on canvas
13” x 25” framed
SOLD
Katie Cummings is a self taught Intuitive Artist living in Vancouver practicing in acrylic painting, watercolour, drawing, mixed media, collage and writing.
“Intuitive art allows me to feel guidance, confidence, and a stronger sense of identity throughout my mental health journey with challenges such as C-PTSD, anxiety, depression, and ADHD.
I believe that my art brings forth the raw, provocative energy of living with mental health issues and allows you a visual to connect to the mind of the artist. In this case, a portrayal of the many layers of perceptual fog sifted through to see beyond the inner battle of ordinary days towards moments of solace or hopefulness. Little pockets of peace to keep progressing.”
Christine Delay
He Once was a Boy
Mixed media collage on panel
12” x 12”
SOLD
Christine Delay is a mixed media artist from Vancouver with lived experience of mental health. Her work is centred around a snow globe theme in a 2D format, a structure that allows her the freedom to explore a wide variety of subjects. Working with collage, charcoal, acrylic paint, and spray paint, Christine combines playful, and sometimes unlikely images to create a sense of wonder and curiosity in the viewer. She then surrounds and engulfs the “snow globe” with semi-abstract mark making representing that which we cannot control. Her work is colourful, full of movement, nostalgic and often contains a sprinkle of dark humour.
Her piece He Once was a Boy explores the way in which we as a society are currently failing our children, waiting too long before opening up the discussion surrounding mental health and often leaving them to suffer in silence. She believes that significant change can be made in our society by teaching young children how to maintain their mental health on a regular basis.
“In 2018 I was diagnosed with OCD, General Anxiety Disorder, and Chronic Depression. Though I’d been living with these disorders most of my life without knowing it, I was in my 40’s when I was officially diagnosed. Today, I am managing my OCD much better and ready to share my story with others.”
Please note that prices do not include shipping cost.
Email us your mailing address for an estimate at outsidersandothers@gmail.com
Carrie Hill
Exhaustion
Digital print
18” x 24” framed
$650
My name is Carrie Hill. I am a self-taught, queer, non-binary, disabled lens-based artist with over 20 years of lived experience in mental illness. I was formally diagnosed at the age of 34 after years of fighting for the right to understand my condition.
My piece Exhaustion is a self-portrait of an acute anxiety attack shown in real-time. This image explores isolation, dissociation, overwhelm, despair, and drug use, all within the context of trying to manage mental illness, disability, and life in a cisgendered, heteronormative, ableist world–a world that perceives anything in deviation from neurotypical, able-bodied, and heterosexual as “other,” “unworthy,” and “disposable.”
It's unjust that lives like mine are frequently erased. I created Exhaustion because neurodivergent people like me exist. Our experiences are just as diverse, complex, and valuable as anyone else’s.
Here is how I exist and navigate the world. Thank you for experiencing it with me.
Mina Mitic
Sunday Afternoon
Intaglio Etching on zinc plate
21.2” x 17.1” framed
SOLD
Mina Mitic
Through the Window
Oil on Canvas
8.1” x 6.2” framed
Not for sale
Mina Mitic is an emerging artist based in Vancouver. These pieces relate to the theme of mental health through my use of intimate symbolism and imagery that doesn’t outwardly imply the topic of mental health, but rather begs the viewer to dig deeper and find the meaning for themselves. In my work I use dark repetitive lines as a way to convey the emotions, thoughts and feelings that constantly surround me, whether positive or negative. I choose not to make the theme of my works solely mental health related, and opt for a multi-faceted piece that holds many different meanings. The direction of my pieces evolves with every line I make, and the outcome reflects the progression of my mental state as I am creating them. Although I strive for balance and peace in my life, it is a constant struggle and takes great effort to uphold a sense of control. Making art is the best outlet for me to completely express myself, and tuning in to my emotions is a crucial part of my artistic process.
Clare Palmer
Cry for Help
Mixed media on canvas
14” x 18" framed
$200 + 7% PST
Clare Palmer has lived and worked in the Vancouver area for over 30 years. She started taking art classes to help her mental health, and completed a Painting Certificate at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
“This artwork is a distillation of the words that circulated in my mind when I was trapped in a severe cycle of depression and anxiety. These words helped me enormously. By repeating them I was able to fight off the other words that told me I should die. They stopped me from harming myself. By sharing these words, I hope to reach others who may have the same experiences. Please know that you are not alone, and that there is help.’
Bart Vulliamy
Through a Distorted Lens #2
Photograph
14” x 14” framed
$65 + 7% PST
I am a self-taught artist from East Vancouver, mainly focusing on photography. I am autistic and have had a lifelong struggle with anxiety disorders. This photo is part of a mini series called Through a Distorted Lens. I titled it as such to show the duality of how I view the world, and how society views me. Shot on my Holga camera, this photograph becomes extra distorted and dreamlike, enhancing the feeling of having an anxiety disorder in the city.
Autism has been the victim of misinformation campaigns for decades, rendering autistic people to be unheard and misunderstood. Many autistic people, adults included, deal with sensory processing disorders, alexithymia (inability to identify emotions or feelings), rejection sensitive dysphoria, along with mental health issues and other chronic illnesses.
Aileen Yadokoro
Self Conscious
Linocut Print
21” x 17” framed
SOLD
Through my years in the Fine Arts Diploma program at Langara College, I found printmaking a way to express the inner ‘void’ I had been feeling for several years prior. Mental health issues have always been an inspiration and motivator for my work, representing the uncertainty in yourself when struggling with feelings of depression and anxiety. The repetitive motion of carving a plate of linoleum has become a meditative thing for me, pushing aside those symptoms of mental illness.
My work Self Conscious is based on the feelings of body dysmorphia, always feeling the need to hide parts of myself, being tied down to the idea of perfection.
This exhibition was co-curated by Yuri Arajs, Director/Curator at Outsiders and Others, with Seema Shah, a self-taught artist with lived experience of mental health issues.
The exhibition is part of a community partnership project funded by
Vancouver Coastal Health’s Consumer Initiative Fund.
For more information on this partnership visit
www.outsidersandothers.com/professional-artistic-growth-made-access
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