It was anything but art for art’s sake earlier this month as the Society for Neuroscience held an art show to raise money for Do It for Daron and start a community-wide discussion about mental health.
Do It For Daron is a campaign meant to raise awareness about youth mental health. The charity was formed by the friends and family of Daron Richardson, daughter of former Ottawa Senators assistant coach, Luke Richardson. The 14-year-old took her life in 2010.
The Brain and Mental Health Art Show, at Grounded Kitchen & Coffeehouse on Gloucester, was the culmination of this year’s Brain Awareness Week, an annual national event organized by the Society for Neuroscience.
“If someone with mental health issues is here tonight, and everybody is here with a positive attitude, everybody’s talking about it, then they’re going to feel more comfortable talking about their own experiences with mental health,”said SfN Ottawa president Mark Patterson. The SfN asked the public to send in a piece of art that represented what the brain and mental health meant to them, says Patterson. In response, he says, they received art from “everywhere under the sun.”
The art itself ranged from a knitted brain to a black and white photograph of a person – nothing but the hint of a silhouette – pressing against a gauzy curtain.
The diversity was great, says Morgan Ip. He came to the show after a friend piqued his interest, and knows how it feels to be both affected by mental illness and in the dark about it. He’s been educating himself, but still has trouble talking about it.
“There was a close family friend of mine who had a mental health issue,” he said, “and a friend that I had recently took his life.”
Mental health issues affect everyone, he says, and knowing more people are talking about it instead of hiding it definitely helps understand what issues are out there. As the discussion grows and expands, so does the knowledge that mental illness doesn’t fit the literary archetype of one member of society secluded from the rest. It’s friends and family who are sometimes afflicted, says Ip.