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ID: An exhibition Team member is seen in a purple OOSOOM T-shirt holding pieces of white paper with information on helping speak to an exhibition visitor. Artworks and other visitors can be seen in the background observing artworks.
Scotland’s biggest mental health art exhibition gets bigger
400 people with mental health issues show art at Summerhall
Launch: Tuesday 21 October, 6-8pm (booking required) Exhibition: Wednesdays to Sundays, 22 October to 9 November, 11am-6pm
The one of a kind, Out of Sight Out of Mind exhibition is back for its 13th year! — and this time, it’s bigger than ever.
Taking place at Summerhall in Edinburgh in October, it remains Scotland’s biggest mental health art exhibition. Bringing together artworks by more than 400 people who have experience of mental health issues and artworks from 19 projects. The exhibition is organised by people who have mental health issues, supported by CAPS Independent Advocacy and joins the upcoming programme of Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival. Out of Sight Out of Mind expect their usual audience of 2000 plus people.
Occupying almost all the galleries at Summerhall on show will be paintings, prints, photographs, sculpture as sound, the wearable and the watchable. Artworks will be beautiful, raw, personal, political, joyful and everything in-between.
One exhibitor said:
“It’s a window into lived experiences that are often overlooked or unheard, but that matter. Experiences that hold value, beauty, insight, and truth — and speak to the universal human need to connect and be seen.”
Each artwork is a personal response, a unique voice, which together forms a powerful experience for visitors, who often report a feeling of recognition and the way that seeing others’ artworks helps them to make sense of their own experiences and feel that they’re not alone.
“It made me realise how many of us human beings have mental health challenges as part of us. It helped me feel more at home in the world.”
“I could connect with a lot of the exhibitions as I have and am still on, my own journey. It is nice to see the creative side of mental health and what can be achieved. Day at a time. Baby steps.”
Some exhibitors have taken inspiration from Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival theme of ‘comfort and disturb’. Inspired by a famous Cesar A Cruz quote about art as activism; the idea that “art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”.
Could this be the last Out of Sight Out of Mind exhibition?
Exhibition organisers have found the theme to be all too apt. This year they have been more than ‘disturbed’ as they campaigned to save the exhibition from the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership cuts. Finally, at the end of August they lost their battle along with many other vital community mental health projects. However, they have taken a great deal of ‘comfort’ in the support they received from exhibitors, audiences, organisations, public, press and many councillors. They hope that funding can be found to continue the exhibition and all the benefits it brings to the community of Edinburgh.
Organisers say:
‘We remain resilient. We resist mental health being out of sight and out of mind. We want people with mental health issues to have their own space to come together and be seen, heard and celebrated through their art.’
Since 2013, Out of Sight Out of Mind has carved out a space all of its own, led by a grassroots group of individuals with mental health issues and local organisations. In a city which hosts the largest and most lucrative art festival in the world, they have created something truly special which is widely valued. Organisers credit the project’s success to the ‘experience led’ approach which has made it bold and unapologetically authentic. It resists the pressures of labels and stereotypes, instead offering a platform where advocacy and art meet, and where lived experience is expressed in its full diversity.
With the year-on-year increase in numbers participating in the exhibition, and the general rise in mental health issues reported, the need for Out of Sight Out of Mind — and the space it creates — has never been clearer.
For now, organisers, exhibitors, and participating projects are focussed on making this year’s exhibition a great celebration as well as a call to action. People can give their support by coming to see it, and, in the busiest year, space will be made for everyone to say what the exhibition, art, mental health, and being seen and heard means to them.
Don’t miss it:
Join this October and November to experience 400 voices, side by side, in a space of their own making. Out of Sight Out of Mind is not just an exhibition: it is a growing community, a celebration of the human experience, and a shining example of what art can do for people and society.
Visit www.outofsightoutofmind.scot for the latest updates.
Dates:
Launch: Tuesday 21 October, 6-8pm (booking required, see website nearer time)
Exhibition Open: Wednesdays to Sundays, 11am-6pm, 22 October to 9 November
Address: Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Place, Edinburgh
Event: OOSOOM Uncovered, Thursday 6 November, 2-4pm (booking requested, see website nearer time)
Contact:
More information, high-res images, interviews.
Pam Van de Brug, Art as Advocacy Manager, CAPS Independent Advocacy
Email: pam@capsadvocacy.org
Mobile: 07989 402634
Web: www.outofsightoutofmind.scot
Additional Quotes:
‘This exhibition gives me a voice in a world where I often feel voiceless. It’s not just about creating or showing work — it’s about being heard. OOSOOM gives space to the kind of expression that can’t be forced into neat sentences or diagnoses. Here, I don’t need to explain myself in ways I can’t. Through art, I speak. Through this exhibition, I am understood.’
‘Without it, I spiral — into silence, into isolation. Art is my connection to the world. OOSOOM is the only place where that connection feels safe, supported, celebrated. In this space, I’m not just tolerated — I belong.’
‘This exhibition doesn’t just support artists — it saves lives. It saved mine.’
‘Nowhere else have I found a community like this. Nowhere else have I felt so wholly accepted. Here, I have friends. A mad, loving family.’
Statements in support: https://www.outofsightoutofmind.scot/news/statements-oosoom
What Does it Mean to You? 2024: https://www.outofsightoutofmind.scot/what-does-it-mean-to-you-2024
CAPS Funding updates: https://capsadvocacy.org/category/news/
Note to editors:
Out of Sight Out of Mind is a platform for people with experience of mental health issues to express whatever they want to using art, their voices louder together. Organised by and for people who have lived experience of mental health issues.
A CAPS Independent Advocacy project, funded by Thrive Edinburgh, part of Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival and supported by Summerhall.
Visit the website for further information: www.outofsightoutofmind.scot
CAPS Independent Advocacy is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Scottish Charity Number: SC021772
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