In January we were incredibly proud to be involved in a unique exhibition looking at Mental Wellbeing.
Carrie Austin, an independent freelance photographer based in Nottinghamshire took it upon herself to examine the topic of mental health through her medium of choice and developed a range of imagery attempting to visualise how Mental wellbeing can impact a persons everyday life, and also more importantly how individuals can make changes to their own mindset to improve their own mental wellbeing.
As a photographer interested in mental health it was a project that I wanted to do to promote the power of mindset. I have studied NLP techniques out of interest for some years and people fascinate me. There was a campaign for people to speak openly about what’s on their mind but there doesn’t seem to be anything out there about how a change of mindset can literally change your day or indeed your life.
A lot of photography to do with mental health only shows one ‘mood’ so it was important for me that each model had 2 images within the exact same situation but showing how the change of mindset can change the situation.
The feedback from the event was all positive. People understood the concept without an explanation and felt ’empowered’,’understood’,’normal’. The project was to generalise mental health rather than show mental illness and put it across that EVERY BODY has mental health and the power to help themselves
I’m really grateful that The Access Card supported the event. Their own service mission to improve people’s every day quality of life with acknowledgement, acceptance and ways to improve people’s own personal experience made them a totally relevant sponsor.
Martin Austin, Managing Director of Nimbus Disability, the company behind the Access Card said of the event and the Access Cards sponsorship;
We are huge proponents of the Social Model of Disability here at Nimbus and its very often the little things that make the biggest difference to a situation. We’re not for a second saying that medical conditions can be fixed by a change in mindset or that its an individuals responsibility.
That said all, disabled people, with physical or mental health impairments, can benefit from a positive attitude about your situiation. It is clearly a tool in the box that can make a big difference to your day
Carrie is my sister and I’m obviously a very proud big brother but this is a great piece of work which derserves to be shared!
For more information and to inquire about hosting the exhibition in your area, please contact Carrie directly carrieaustinphotography@gmail.com
