Hana Madness shared with us her latest project for the #Madlove TakeOver at St. Helens, UK -- continuing to advocate for mental health awareness through the Arts.
Written by Hana Madness
Do you still remember the collaborative project that I did with CGL (Change, Grow, Live) back in August 2019 which is a place to help people with drugs & alcohol addiction? Together we wrote something positive about their recovery process on my big characters which were on display at a festival called #Madlove TakeOver in a city called St. Helens which becomes the suicide capital of the UK.
And back on my 4th visit to the UK, I did a collaborative project on 22 November 2019 on a window salon as part of Walthamstow Festival London in promoting the Takeover festival in St Helens. Together we created monsters messages on the window of the salon that still related to mental health issues.
In there, I also asked some visitors of the salon to write something on my postcards for the people at CGL. So basically it’s an exchange of messages to be given to the people at the CGL.
On the next day, 23 November 2019, I’ve got a podcast interview as part of the Touretteshero’s Knowledge Exchange hosted by Felix Pickett along with 3 other UK artists & activists which aims to share our experiences that related to art and activism in disability fields. Besides me, there were Ruth Ojadi, Emily Reynolds & Hamja Ahsan.
After spending 2 days in London, I headed to St Helens to finally attend the TakeOver festival which I was involved in in exhibiting my existing paintings along with the collaborative project with CGL and conducted a fun workshop on 27 November which involved everyone who came to the Madlove Space to create our own monster characters...
Madlove Takeover Festival aims to create a safe and brave space to everyone with mental health issues to chat, meet, relax, and enjoy every events such as screenings, workshops, and talks about how we together can create the best way to improve mental health care in St Helens through arts. I believe my participation in this festival can increase a good relationship between UK and Indonesia in the arts sector. This opportunity allowed me to meet with so many brilliant artists/paractitioners that can lead us to other collaborations in the future.
I also have learned so much from this journey to be more professional as an artist without forgetting the values of collectivity, togetherness and understanding, not only about me but also others. How we as a figure who has power can empower others to stand together and listen to what we really need to get our rights. And art is proven to be one of the best ways to achieve that.
Also I realised the thing which has brought me to be where I am right now was how myself as an Indonesian artist started my activism based on my experiences as mentally disabled person by producing artworks which are inspired by these concerns. And I decided to keep doing it until people notice it. It took me a long time, but I believe nothing is in vain.
#Madlove #TakeOverSthelens was successfully produced & curated by Our Heart of Glass, the vacuum cleaner & Mary Osborn (Artsadmin) and supported by The British Council of Indonesia. #samabisabisasama
