Insole Court, Cardiff
Until Fri 16 Feb
Cerys Knighton hopes to raise awareness of mental health via an artistic representation of her struggles with bipolar disorder, entitled Drawing Bipolarity. Discovering a distinct lack of work relating to manic-depressive illnesses, the medical humanities student decided to create her own visual journey, depicting her experience through the medium of dot work. The style – consisting of thousands of dots and lines layered to make an image – can take hours to complete, but for the 23-year-old this practice has become a therapeutic means to express herself.
The exhibition draws inspiration from works by Edgar Allan Poe and Lewis Carroll in her exploration of the literary depictions of mental health, with the ultimate goal of breaking the stigma surrounding mental illness. In her words: “It must be so hard to imagine what it’s like to lose your own consciousness and sense of reality. For me, visually depicting experiences hopes to bridge that gap, to make it easier for me to explain, and more accessible for others to understand.”
Sixteen of her best works are displayed, in the hopes that we can begin to recognise the struggles those with mental health issues face. With support from mental health organisation Making Minds, Knighton’s detailed pointillism creates a delicate combination of 19th century depictions and up-to-date experiences from her own journey.
Admission: free. Info: 02921 167920 / https://www.insolecourt.org/ (KW)
