On March 3, the new third phase of the exhibition "Gallery 600" was officially unveiled to the public on the first floor of Building 6 of Shanghai Mental Health Center. The participating artists in this exhibition are hospitalized patients with schizophrenia at the Shanghai Mental Health Center. The curatorial team innovates the use of interactive art exhibitions to allow artists to communicate with the audience, so that the exhibition becomes a "microphone" and promotes a two-way spiritual exchange between patient artists and the public.
Audiences can paint live and "talk" to patient artists
Xiaolong, Lao Chen and Lao Yan are the protagonists of this exhibition, and the more than 40 paintings on display are from their hands.
Xiaolong is a star figure among the hospitalized patients, and even patients in other wards who do not like to paint know that Xiaolong is particularly good at painting, and the rehabilitation department often asks him to draw something.
Xiaolong had studied painting before he was hospitalized, and he was very happy whenever the rehabilitation department asked him to draw promotional materials on the themes of the New Year's Festival and current affairs.
Dr. Chan Chi Man, curator of Gallery 600, said:
Most of Xiaolong's paintings have no title or are simply named after the shapes they draw, such as this one of Vortex and Face. He is willing to communicate and can take the initiative to explain his paintings to others, but the explanations are all specific painting contents, such as explaining that this painting is a bat, and this painting is an electric current. However, such an abstract and pure painting style is not suitable for interpretation with a rational mind.
Lao Chen is a "funny" gentleman in the studio, with a smile in his eyes, always ready to say a few playful words. In the studio, when Chen Zhimin looks at other people's paintings, he will introduce them for others, "He paints the ocean." What is wider than the ocean in this world is the sky, and what is wider than the sky is the human mind."
Chen Zhimin said that in stark contrast to his character who loves to gag, his penmanship habits are very strict and careful, often putting the paper and paint in a proper position, slowly taking the pen to line, during the period if he hears any movement around, he will stop the pen and detect new things like radar.
The life of the ward is too monotonous and narrow, unchanging, and the spiritual life is poor. Like many patient artists, Lao Yan once complained that he "had nothing to paint." But then he found a way to overcome it, using real things as a source of inspiration for shapes, deforming and expanding them for his own abstract creation.
Unlike the previous two exhibitions, this exhibition is carefully prepared with a handbook for the audience to read, which contains the life stories of three patient artists. The curatorial team also painted the images of three artists who could not be present on the wall, and three colorful humanoid patterns combined the personality and appearance characteristics of the characters, and the colorful flowers symbolized the softness and richness of the heart.
At the exhibition, a large area of experience area and message area were also specially reserved. The white wall around each painting is an experience area, and the audience can paint on the spot according to their own viewing experience, and have a linkage and "dialogue" with the works of the patient artists.
After that, the staff will collect and sort out the audience's messages and send them to the participating artists, and the artists' feedback will be updated to the audience regularly in the message area. Through the "microphone", two-way spiritual communication is achieved.
Chen Mengyuan, a volunteer curator of the exhibition, also shared with everyone the voice of the exhibition:
Friends from all walks of life are welcome to recreate art on the wall next to the painting, or write down what you want to say to them, achieve an interaction, let the society know more about people with mental disorders, often help, always comfort.
Let the whole society see the "other side" of schizophrenic patients
Schizophrenia is one of the major mental disorders that is likely to occur in about 1 in 100 people around the world.
They are in a relatively closed environment, with little communication with the outside world, and even if the patients themselves are willing to go out of the walls of the mental hospital to communicate with the public, they will encounter many difficulties in actual operation. This barrier separates the "wall" between the patient and society, which is not only high, not only hard, but also invisible and ubiquitous.
"We don't need to put any mark on this type of disease other than the disease." Xie Bin, secretary of the Party Committee of the Shanghai Mental Health Center, introduced that the works exhibited in Gallery 600 this time came from the pens of three long-term hospitalized schizophrenic artists in the Minhang Branch of the Shanghai Mental Health Center, "The paintings displayed today are to let the whole society see the 'other side' of schizophrenia patients." Painters, musicians, writers, and even scientists can emerge among them. ”
Yu Jun, a second-level researcher at the Press and Publicity Department of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said after visiting the painting that "Gallery 600" is breaking through the limitations of language and form, just like a "spiritual through train", driving into people's hearts and transmitting more concepts of mental health. Nowadays, "No. 600 Wanping South Road" is becoming synonymous with mental health and is being paid more and more attention. This is not only the result of the hospital's spiritual civilization construction, but also the embodiment of the warm social culture of Shanghai.
Eat a piece of "No. 600 mooncake", drink a cup of "No. 600 Coffee", visit the "No. 600 Gallery"... "No. 600 Wanping South Road" has become the "top stream" in Shanghai, and things with "No. 600" elements are loved by the public like bamboo... All these show that the awareness, acceptance and tolerance of mental illness in all walks of life have increased significantly.
"Popularizing mental health knowledge and improving mental health literacy is one of the most direct, fundamental and effective measures to improve the mental health level of the whole people." Shao Guohua, director of the Science Popularization Center of the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology, said, "'Gallery 600' is a very good mental health science popularization. It is expected that the science popularization of '600' will continue to innovate, spread and continue to continue, and build a 'rainbow bridge' to communicate people's hearts. ”
At the exhibition site, Li Guanjun, director of the third clinical department of Shanghai Mental Health Center, brought a lecture "Schizophrenia from a Beautiful Life", which popularized schizophrenia and broadcast the whole process live.
The on-site visitors painted their own "heart words" in the interactive area, and wrote their feelings on the message wall: "Come on, you are great, we look forward to the next creation", "'Gallery 600' is worth the trip, the paintings are very healing, and I will often come to see them in the future", "Here, I feel very warm, I hope the gallery can become a bridge to people's hearts"...
Morning News, Thoughtful APP Pan Wen He Yue
Image | Provided by Pan Wen interviewee
Source: Morning News