SCOTTISH MENTAL HEALTH ARTS AND FILM FESTIVAL

 What an amazing time we had at Moving Minds, the opening mini-festival for the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. We were running a weaving workshop (myself and my glamorous assistant, Sarah). We asked people to contribute to our, for want of a better title, 'Tapestry of powerful feelings'!  I have posted a few photos here, but there will be more because the paparazzi where active all day!

The theme of the SMHAFF this year is Power. This is a really exciting in terms of its wide range of meanings- we could think about politics, autonomy, rights, voices and levels of mental health. What we chose to focus on was how powerful our emotions, or feelings, can be, and how it is often these most powerful of feelings that we consider when we are talking about mental health.

Iris gets busy choosing her beads!

We asked people to think about a situation in their lives, or an experience they have had, which was particularly powerful emotionally. We then asked them to respond to this experience in colour- using fabrics, bead, buttons and wool. This sounds so simple- but everyone got so involved! It was incredible to see the results. One of the most powerful parts was the little tag we asked people to contribute to communicate what experience they were thinking of. From births, deaths, psychosis and war- no one shied away from engaging with truly powerful moments. I feel so privileged to have been given such insight into people’s lives! Thank you everyone who contributed, and Sarah, who is amazing and explaining things and engaging people. And Thank you also to the Felin Uchaf Centre in Wales, who donated the wood that the loom is built from.

The loom in action

The Weave! Featured are two births, a major transition and the experience of madness. Powerful stuff!