For the past three years, we have put together virtual exhibitions for our Members’ Events, featuring creative pieces by folks in our network, including photography, drawings, and poetry. This year, we’re doing the same again. The idea is to have somewhere bringing together artwork by people with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress, or trauma in the UK.
Previous exhibitions
Visit the 2020 creative exhibition
Visit the 2021 creative exhibition
Visit the 2022 creative exhibition
Add your artwork
If you have something you’d like to add to the below exhibition, please send it (along with the name you’d like displaying and any links you would like to add, for example to your website or Instagram) to gabrielle.johnson@nsun.org.uk.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone whose work is included in this exhibition: Mud, Bekah Harris, Vykky Ebner, Martin Vallis, Claire Eggleshaw Redoutet, Jessie Jones, Rachel Rowan Olive, Steph Clark, Carriad Morgana, Roz (Batty Makes), Leila, Michelle Baharier, Tony Fisher, A Vision of Safety project group, David Sohanpal, Tim Adwick, Graham, Nikola and Thomas from Underground Lights, Laura Buchenlicht and Louisa Shiels.
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Please note that images, videos and words below may be subject to copyright – please do not reuse any of the works below without permission.
Mud
Mud is an emerging outsider artist with a focus on their experiences of psychosis, borderline personality disorder, and most recently, their journey of healing and recovery.
You can find out more about Mud and view more of their work on their website: creatormud.co.uk or on Instagram: @creator_mud
Bekah Harris
This piece was created for “A Sophisticated Insult” and was made in response to Bekah not being permitted to show her work in another project as it was deemed “too controversial”, despite the original piece having used direct quotes from mental health professionals and policy makers. You can find Bekah on Twitter @100beks.
Vykky Ebner
I have schizoaffective disorder and trauma from domestic violence, and that I believe disabled artists should have their unique challenges accepted and that we should be more visible. My pronouns are she/her. Here are two pieces I’ve done this year. the church one, called “Canavar”, which translates to monster or wolf, Is about a pastor telling me if I got off my psych meds I’d be closer to God. The two headed crow, called “Ypsilanti” is about everything that happened during my abusive relationship and the duality of the relationship. You can view more of Vykky’s work on Instagram @vykkydammit.
Martin Vallis
Martin is an artist, photographer, lived experience practitioner and educator. Once a commercial photographer, he now interprets his internal emotional world through the images that inspire and make that connection.
Underground Lights
“Belongings” by Thomas
I watched you leave us so sudden from our lives
A tear we all have for you will never go away
As we all know it was not your time to leave us
The news of you leaving us came to all as a shock
As we all know that your heart will always live in us all
And the memories we will have forever
And now you’re at eternal rest
And let the perpetual light shine upon you for always
“Lost and Found” by Nikola
Lost and found
That’s a sound
I’ve lost my mind
That isn’t kind
I get some hobbies
That is great
I like to create
Lost and found
That is sound
I’ve lost my socks
And some rocks
I get some tights
That is great
And my fate
Lost and found
That is sound
I’ve lost weight
That is great
It goes up and down
That’s not sound
So I carry on
It’s such a con
“Lost and Found” by Graham
Lost my home and lost my belongings
Lost my pet hamsters
Lost my grandparents
Lost keys
Losing things makes me feel angry and upset
But sometimes I find things
Found new friends
Found new jobs
Finding things makes me feel happy
Found my singing again!
These poems were written during Creative Cafe workshops at Underground Lights exploring the theme of ‘lost and found’. Underground Lights is a former Belgrade Springboard Company, running workshops in association with the Belgrade Theatre. We are run for and by adults experiencing social disadvantage, homelessness and/or mental health issues in Coventry, Warwickshire and the surrounding area.
Claire Eggleshaw Redoutet
I create dark art as therapy using tactile materials as a self-soothing process. My work explores themes of transformation and my own emotional responses.
Instagram: @oeuff_gallery
Jessie Jones
I am currently studying part-time for a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design, but am also developing my skills in photography as part of the course. Photography helps my mental health, particularly my anxiety, as it gives me a focus and gets me out of the house. I love photographing the amazing natural world around us. Some of my photographs have been featured in NSUN’s digital art exhibitions and for Mind’s annual calendar (in 2017).
A Vision of Safety project group, University of Sunderland
Creating Sanctuary: “We invite you to appreciate our vibrant colours, before you lift the lid on our traumas and make a judgement”
Peace in a bubble: “A canvas showing a vision of safety. Co-created in a safe space.”
Find out more about the participatory arts project here.
Rachel Rowan Olive
This illustration was printed in Asylum Magazine, Autumn 2023.
Rachel is a mental heath survivor researcher, trainer, writer, and illustrator. You can find out more and view more of her work on her website and visit her Etsy shop by clicking here.
Steph Clark
Steph is an award-winning mental health advocate, writer and illustrator specialising in mental illness, mental health and being a chronic pain survivor (or spoonie).
Through her campaigns, articles, artwork, website and blog she promotes better physical and mental well-being using creativity and talks honestly about her decade-long journey with multiple mental illnesses, life with a genetic disorder (Hypermobile EDS), living with Long Covid, and being an ambulatory wheelchair user. She lives in the South East with her partner, daughter and brilliant dog.
Carriad Morgana
Shadows of my own success.
I am the sum of all the hurt that other’s gave to me
I am the empty shell they often laughed at cheerfully
I am the reject of the past and those I left behind
I am the stolen memories when they destroyed my mind.
I am the powerless boat, adrift on a destination of contempt
I am everyone’s destruction, when I appeared unkempt
I am the drowning tower of strength despite the truth of it
I am the maniac, the temptress and the bottomless pit.
I WAS the best and the worst of passions that ran so very deep
I WAS the woman who paid the price for an attempted eternal sleep
I WAS the failure and the future intrinsically entwined
I WAS an angel and the devil despite neither contract being signed.
I am NOW the imperfect embodyment of a refurbished shipwreck
I am NOW the non divine recipient of a karmic paycheck
I am NOW no more ashamed and desperate needing to convalesce
I am NOW the bright and flickering shadows of my own success. ©
Carriad is 59, has been writing poetry as a cathartic way through emotional and physical recovery. Her brutally honest poetry reflects divorce, homelessness, madness and LGBTQ+ in middle age.
Having performed a hilarious poem for local dignitaries and Sophie Wessex, there’s evidence to suggest she can laugh sometimes. She works as a lived experience advisor with several universities plus local and national charities. Poetry has helped her realise that life is definitely worth living.
Roz (Batty Makes)
Roz is an artist who previously focused on themes relating to mental illness, but, after 3.5 years of care and treatment is now branching out into new styles as she rediscovers herself.
This piece is called “Learning to fly again” and depicts the journey she has made towards recovery from mental illness. With the hundreds of hand crafted paper cranes representing the hundreds of appointments she has had – she is donating the piece to her local mental health trust to say thank you for all the care she has received.
You can view more of her work on her Instagram (@Batty_Makes) and Facebook page, and you can buy prints of her artwork on her Etsy shop (www.etsy.com/shop/BattyMakes)
Leila
Leila is a survivor of childhood psychiatric abuse. She moved to the UK at 16, and undertook studies in Forensic Psychology and Medical Anthropology, now starting doctoral research in Psychology. In her spare time she enjoys reading and writing, you can find her work on Substack or reach out on Twitter @chrysalidxroads.
Michelle Baharier
Michelle is a multimedia and interdisciplinary fine artist. She was the CEO, Founder, and Artistic Director of CoolTan Arts, an arts in mental health charity run by and for people with mental distress, for over 25 years.
You can find out more about Michelle on her website: michellebaharier.co.uk and you can buy her work via her Etsy or Saatchi Art shops.
Tony Fisher
Tony is a photographic artist who looks through the lens and captures what he sees transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary, seizing the moment. Tony wants to explore and research loneliness, isolation and well-being, something he has battled with personally for over 40 years.
You can see more of Tony’s work on his website. You can also visit his Instagram here or YouPic portfolio here.
David Sohanpal
David is an Asylum Seeker, who has fled persecution for speaking about the injustice back home and suffer from anxiety, depression and PTSD. Like many Asylum Seekers, they are not allowed to study or work while waiting for their status these leave many in a precarious situation wasting their mind and rotting away.
Rather than sit idle and wallow he was introduced to art therapy as a way to deal with his traumas, he hasn’t picked up a paint brush since leaving high school but has slowly found his way to feel comfortable with this newfound form of expression. He found making art a great escapism to address emotional issues a therapeutic way to deal with the traumas, the creative expression can foster healing and mental well-being. It has really helped him to deal with the isolation in lockdown, street homelessness and panic attacks from losing his sanity and to find his voice. You can find David on Instagram here.
Tim Adwick
My name is Tim I have battled with my mental health for many years down to trauma, but I now use my lived in experience to help others I run a mental health peer support group.
If you want to see more of my photography check out my Instagram and Facebook accounts @timadwick.
Laura Buchenlicht
Laura is from Germany, but has lived several years in the UK. She is an intersectional activist, poet, singer/songwriter, visual
artist, writer, and Lived Experience Trauma Educator. She developed a
Dissociative Identity as a result of childhood emotional and physical
neglect and abuse. Her greatest achievements were to survive, leave her family, become aware of her trauma, and to start (and stick with) therapy. Her survivor’s mission is to raise awareness about her non-disorders and how trauma is interlinked with all forms of social oppression. She discusses these topics on her blog FemVegTrauma and YouTube channel DI without the Disorder.
Louisa Shiels
Let Nature Heal You
If you were a colour you would be grey. Not happy. Just weak. You’re a moaner. Your voice is watery. Nobody needs a nobody.
You wake up. And as usual there is no plan to the day. You forgot to put out the recycling. Time to hibernate. You send yourself back to bed, hoping to escape into cosy dreams of a life once cherished and enjoyed. That life was called childhood.
Mummy would make the fruitcakes and Daddy would get home, polish his shoes and ask you about your day with Lu and Penny. The bosom of the family. Two sisters. Your room in the middle.
Makeovers, CD’s and dancing. Spice Girls and All Saints. And Top of the Pops each and every Friday, religiously.
Always a household full of cats. Lucy, then Leo, then Ollie, then Milton and Monto and Mimi. They get fed and would bring in all manner of creatures from the garden. But mummy would always deal with them. You didn’t do responsibility. Just took part. And a million hugs and cuddles.
You get rudely awaken by the drilling. It takes you out of your cosy dreamy nest. This is real life. Trust no one. Only rely on yourself. Uni was a joke………
And then He came along. Him with his curly brown hair and glorious golden brown soulful eyes. His body became your home. Kisses and cuddles daily. Deep chats. Silliness. Plenty of giggles. Nicknames and care and love, real pure love. You get married and he becomes five family members rolled into one. You even get a rescue cat! Daisy our fur baby.
But he goes to work, leaving me to float around the flat, pacing back and forth. A numb grayness returning to your face. You need milk and brown bread and pink ladies. You see you ate too much – it was your comforter. And now you have type two diabetes. You blame yourself and feel like a loser.
Your body is gasping for fresh air. You haul yourself off the beige sofa and put on your snazzy trainers. You can go for a supermarket shop this evening.
Let’s get moving! One foot in front the other.
You look around at the trees, it’s leaves, the dense green bushes and dewy grass.
A robin lands on your shoulder, wishing you luck. You breathe in life and breathe out joy.
Nature is healing you. The endorphins are rippling around your body like a magic show.
You are no longer grey, you are a shiny, shimmering multicolored creature, leaving a trail of glitter everywhere you go! You have a purpose. You accept your issues and can work on becoming the best version of you.
Life isn’t about being a grey, it’s about getting your heart pumping, the circulation going and colour to your cheeks.
Wrap up warm my dear, Let me help you on your way.
You have the outside world to experience – sunrise and sunset. The breeze on your face. Gentle dewy raindrops. Orange and brown autumnal leaves to stride through.
It’s time for you to glow, it’s time for your life to begin again xxx
Living with schizoaffective disorder can be tough, but I find joy and healing energy in nature, cookery, poems, composing piano tunes, going for coffee with my besties, and feeling safe and having a routine within the community of a local mind organisation.
Meeting my husband was a turning point for good in recovery and I try to be as resilient as possible by practising selfcare.
NSUN is a membership organisation and a network of grassroots, community mental health groups and people who have lived experience of mental distress, ill-health and trauma. NSUN connects, supports, and amplifies the voices and work of these individuals and user-led groups. As a user-led organisation, all of our staff members and trustees have lived experience.
We work to redistribute power and resource in mental health. We do this by:
- Building, amplifying and distributing the knowledge that is held by people with lived experience
- Creating collaborative spaces with members and partners to build momentum and sustainability for the work
- Building an alternative approach to mental health policy work
- Working with funders and acting as a microfunder to redistribute resources to grassroots user-led groups, as well as working to build capacity and sustainability in other, non-material ways
NSUN Members' Event 2023 