SMHAFF
BRAIN POWER
The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival is once again challenging stereotypes. Hannah McGill takes a closer look at this year’s programme, which aims to make us view the world through different eyes
H ow’s your mental health? There is every chance you might have a lengthy answer to that question; and no less chance that you’d like to keep it to yourself. Mental health issues are vastly prevalent, but carry a stigma that can make them a good deal harder to talk about than even the ickiest of physical complaints. Not everyone wants to share their mental health history with the world but many will have experienced fallout from limited understanding – lost jobs, damaged relationships, accommodation troubles – or felt powerless to help another. troubles – or felt powerless to help another. Can understanding be broadened without Can understanding be broadened without recourse to politically correct i nger- recourse to politically correct i nger- wagging? wagging?
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The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, now entering its eighth year, forcefully believes it can. The festival’s theme this year is power, a major consideration in the i eld of mental health, as festival chair Isabella Goldie explains. ‘The absence of power can do much to erode mental health, and being disempowered reduces people’s life chances. Living in poverty, being unemployed, being in a job where you aren’t valued or have no control and generally not being heard is the experience for many people with mental health problems. problems.’
Access to the arts, not just as audience members but as creators and participants, offers people an opportunity to express themselves and to develop sympathy for others. ‘The arts and power have a long history,’ says Goldie, ‘from the use of written work in order to share experiences when it is difi cult to i nd a voice in another way, through to the use of song to protest and gather round a cause. This year’s festival explores the power that the arts has to shake us up and make us see the world differently.’
The programme features visual The art, d art, dance, photography, theatre, music music and literature as well as international strand an
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18 Sep–16 Oct 2014 THE LIST 25