I wanted to create a post that explores the practice of different artists that address similar issues (creativity, mental health & art therapy) to myself. I want to include short quotations from the artists, in which they contextualise their artistic methods.
1. Susie Freeman : Part of Pharmacopoeia
"Since then the collecting of tiny objects and their subsequent ordering has become a lifetime obsession. The methodology of pocket knitting, which as an artist I have used for the past thirty years, enables me to ensnare, arrange and use this system of containment to extract new meaning from the process of juxtaposition."
2. Yin Xiuzhen -Slow Release
Fused disciplines of textiles and architecture to create a large capsule form titled Slow Release. "The red and white capsule references a new generation of pills designed to reduce the speed of release of medicine in the body in order to increase its therapeutic effect. In Yin’s installation, however, the role of the decelerating element is played not by the capsule, but by the outside layer of clothing which envelopes the giant structure. By allowing visitors to enter the capsule, which is covered in the kind of clothes we wear every day––our second skin, as the artist refers to them––Yin creates a situation where people can slow down and experience the effect of being inside their own body.
Reflecting on the overly fast speed with which she feels society is developing, Yin addresses the complex relationship between the contemporary demand for rapid therapeutic effects and the importance of making time for prolonged rituals of self-medication. The work functions as a powerful reminder of the antidote individual human experiences can provide to the overwhelming societal drive towards progress.
She often uses second-hand objects to make installations that explore the effects of globalization and rapid urban development. Yin is particularly concerned with how global economic progress affects the lives of individuals and our collective memory. Clothing is an important building material for Yin, being associated with memories of her mother working in a garment factory in China and with belonging to a generation of people for whom clothing was something very precious. She began incorporating it in her works in 1995, creating a series of installations that dealt with the interrelationship of memory, contemporary life, and individual experience. "
"This is how I feel about our society: everyone has a soft side in their heart, but they have to toughen up when facing society. This kind of contrast is everywhere, and it has become an ongoing element in my work. " (Yin Xiuzhen, interview dialogue with Monica Merlin)
3. Erin M Riley
" With any mental illness or bizarre thing, regular people, especially where I'm from, it's blue collar, it's like "Well just stop doing it" or "Stop thinking that." I knew that explaining it to my family wouldn't be fruitful or supportive, so I just kind of dealt with it. Then I started to look into it and realized I really needed to make a concerted effort to deal with my anxiety and the OCD impulse-control stuff. It's interesting because I posed about it on Instagram and there were all these responses from people who are knitters or weavers who all have the same thing. They're sort of drawn to these mediums that keep their hands busy. "
"Learning to weave was frustrating at first, but the difficulty made her focus, and she found that the process had the bonus effect of calming her trichotillomania. “It’s repetitive, it’s controlled, it’s mindful, but also automatic,” explains Riley. “You are in this trance-like state, which is similar to trichotillomania, where you kind of lose your head a little bit. You get foggy.”
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