REFLECTIONS ART IN HEALTH

I am a doctor who has suffered from Bipolar Disorder for the last 25 years. The condition has radically altered my life. One of the positive effects has been the discovery of the powerful healing properties of art.

Peter has been making artwork since he was a child. He studied at Goldsmiths College and Hammersmith College and among his influences are Mark Chagall and Pablo Picasso. Peter has experienced mental health problems since his twenties, and has been in and out of hospital care most of his life. His artwork is an important part of his life and helps him keep well. He attributes his graphic style to his years working in the screen printing trade and the narrative element of his work to his life experiences.

I was born in 1970 and am largely a self-taught artist, I use my artwork as a means of staying well. The painting is about coping with the highs and lows of schizophrenia and drinking on the streets stuck in a rut. Maybe it was artist’s block and submitting to illness.

Maureen Scott is known across Europe for her sociopolitical paintings and illustrations now in collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, Utrect, the Museum of Labour History in Manchester and Bethlem Archives and Museum. Maureen is 69 years old and began drawing and painting as a small child. She went on to attend Plymouth College of Art in the early 60's, then Goldsmiths College and Central St. Martins in the 70's. At the age of 50 she suffered a breakdown after her husband died and was admitted to Maudsely Hospital. Despite these turbulent years Maureen has accomplished a great deal including having her poetry published, producing films, working in Fleet Street as a professional litho printer and showing her artwork in exhibitions in the Whitechapel Gallery London, Galerie Poll in Berlin and as far afield as Delhi and the USA.

“I am fascinated by street life, underground sub cultures, alternative burlesque and fetish scenes, aspects of life that are usually unseen! It has become my mission to reveal and celebrate these worlds. My work is an attempt to open people’s eyes to the world that they may not know exists, breaking down distances between people.”