What does it mean to you?
Below are responses shared by 2020 exhibitors, visitors and planners.
Scroll down to read responses from the 2020 exhibition.
It is collective and individual exclamations of bravery and vulnerability standing defiantly on the walls whilst its mad outside. To witness this is remarkable! To be asked to join in, priceless! Thank you to everyone’s bravery and thank you to the team for putting it on! Always looks like adults done it. I adore the crow. I loved seeing one made so well. Here’s to eight more years of smiles! It’s us little people who need art the most!
To me, OOSOOM means connection and sharing experiences; feeling seen, heard and not alone. It’s been such an amazing opportunity to be able to listen to people’s experiences, view their art, and discuss mental health with a great range of people, especially those whose stories we perhaps rarely see or hear. I’ve seen, and have first-hand experience of, how beneficial it is to use art and creative expression to communicate such complex and sensitive topics, particularly when words alone don’t feel quite enough. It has felt harder to connect this year due to the impacts of Covid, so I’m incredibly grateful to have been able to be involved in a project where we have done just that, and worked towards such a positive and important goal. I’m already looking forward to next year!
Looking back from a winter distance it all seems so long ago and yet so vital and nourishing. It meant everything to me to see my work in a real physical space. The exhibition was beautiful, moving and challenging and all the better for not only existing on a screen.
It spoke of times before the scourge, before hysteria and before all the colour was rinsed out …
OOSOOM is a wonderful opportunity for people to come together in a beautiful display of strength and solidarity. This exhibition raises awareness of mental illness, challenges stigma and offers a safe and supportive space for expression. I hope to be involved as an exhibitor and organiser for a long time and that the exhibition continues to thrive and grow with its dedicated team. Despite the darkness and difficulties of living with a mental illness, this is one space where the light shines through. And where there is vision, there is hope.
First of all thank you once again to the organisers of OOSOOM for this fantastic opportunity to allow us to display our experiences of mental health in various ways. It's my third time participating as an Artist and OOSOOM is a great platform to speak up about our struggles in whatever form. The exhibition this year was even more significant to me with all this (Brexit/Covid 19) going on and affecting us all. Some beautiful, extraordinary personal and very relatable pieces there. The website is a great way to re-visit the exhibition. Big heartfelt thank you everyone involved.
The exhibition was amazing. A lot of hard work has went in to it by organisers and artists. This is my first exhibition showing artwork. I did it so my Dad could see it, but he sadly passed away a week before the opening. I was at the exhibition with my partner, we both loved it. X
Joy!
My daughter has a painting in the exhibition. I had never heard of OOSOOM before and could not be more impressed. I attended the online opening and it was wonderful. I have attended many online meetings during the lockdown and this was the best - glorious chaos, good humour, kindness, gentleness, informative and joyous.
Visited the exhibition last week and loved it. Such a privilege to see all the work so beautifully curated. So much to take in and think about. Thank you to everyone who made this possible and to all the artists who contributed.
I was, as always, overwhelmed by the quality and diversity of art on display. As a mental illness sufferer, the opportunity to create and exhibit my piece is empowering and enabling. So great to be part of a show that vividly expresses shared experiences of us all. Huge thanks to organisers, volunteers and supporters. Brilliant news that 8 years further funding secured to keep this thriving project alive.
Opportunity. An opportunity to share some of my thoughts. And opportunities to try to interact with the products of the thoughts of other people.
It's important to most people, and not least to those whose illness may subject them to stigma and marginalisation, to be and feel affirmed. 'Out of sight, out of mind' should ideally be no-one's experience, but rather to be appreciated and valued.
This annual exhibition is one way of giving such people a public outlet for their talents, - to show, in at least the artistic realm, what they can achieve. It is good to see also that people with mental health issues can sometimes find relief or self-expression in arts or crafts. Better still, to learn in some exhibits that a sufferer has recovered.
As an exhibitor, I offer my thanks to the organisers for providing this 'platform' and showcase. When future conditions allow greater attendance, it deserves to be more widely and more energetically advertised.
The chance to be appreciated and have work seen. To be able to express myself in a way that will be interpreted differently by others and just maybe share a similar meaning to what I see and feel. To be able to use my own darkness to bring light to others during these dark times gives me a feeling of fulfilment and achievement. And of course; to be able to enjoin with others walking similar yet paradoxically differing paths to provide a common goal for the enjoyment of countless people.
No matter how low we may be, we can lift each other up and encourage each other to achieve greater things.
The OOSOOM exhibition allows people from the Gypsy/Traveller community to participate on equal terms in an exhibition that explores a common lived experience for many people from all communities.
As a community arts worker specialising in working with Gypsy/Traveller communities I find that participating in the the exhibition has given us the opportunity to introduce a taboo issue to community members and given them a way of expressing their thoughts and experiences in a safe way.
When we have visited the exhibition together so many of the exhibitors have expressed a sense of achievement and validation. Over the years I have seen the confidence of individuals grow in general and specifically in producing art and discussing mental health.
Even though I am getting long in the tooth and have had many experiences of personal, family and friends' struggles with poor mental health, I have learned a lot from the many artworks I have encountered over the years at OOSOOM.
Really struck by the diversity of feelings and expression, yet with a sense of universal humanity.
Wonderful to see the exhibition. Very important to be able to express how you feel. Inspirational, exciting. Great to be part of it. Lots to take away to help with my art practice.
I've visited the exhibition throughout the years as I taught drawing and painting for the Outlook Project 2012-2016, I was always keen for my students to present their work. It’s always fascinating to see how very personal experiences are portrayed by all the exhibitors. And how making these works is a therapy or coping mechanism in itself. Jamie and I have chatted about this a lot lately as we both quite enjoyed lockdown this year!
The autobiographical nature of a lot of the work in the show has chimed with me particularly this year. I had my son in 2015 and had a few years of feeling pretty dreadful afterwards. My father died a few weeks after I gave birth, so 2015 was a big year for me. I think looking back I suffered from undiagnosed postnatal depression. It is only now that my son has started school that I have time to return to my studio regularly and create work again. This has been a truly cathartic experience for me.
I feel now I recognise more than ever the need for creative forms of self-expression to help deal with or process trauma.
OOSOOM to me is hope for the future. The devotion to mental health affected people and mental health awareness is important as we progress as a species. Thank you for believing me.
Keep being this incredible beacon of enlightenment in our community and globally.
Shine bright OOSOOM!
Collaboration, breaking down barriers. That this has been done at such an adverse time so impressive. Thank you too the artists but especially those in the planning group and who organised the exhibition. :-)