Davina shares us her journey of healing through art. Whether you toil over an oil canvas or doodle mindlessly on a page, research suggests the act of creating art has powerful healing properties
How does art help you to cope with your mental health?
Art helps me in many different ways. For example abstract art, the more minimalistic kind is very suiting to look at. It’s relaxing. So in a way some types of art are very calming to me. Scrolling through people creations is also very inspiring to me. It makes me wanna get my iPad or sketchbook out and create for myself. And when you’re creating (doing something you love) everything around you and everything inside your head just vanishes for a moment.
Why I created this digital artwork? I found this quote and it really spoke to me. The meaning behind is that I know a lot of people struggle with finding themselves. They have created this version of them to please other people and keep up with “social standards” and social media. With this post I hope to at least get people to think about who they are. How they really are. Find that person and be it.
I created this artwork using procreate and the standard brushes this app offers. I added some flowers because nature is always themselves they don’t care what another three thinks of them. And in some way I think people can learn from that.
Why is creating about mental health important to you?
I sometimes find it difficult to express myself with words, which may sound crazy because my art mostly consists of digital lettering pieces. Creating about mental health is very important to me because art can sometimes speak for itself without having to explain it with words.
What aspect of mental health/mental illness do you focus on in your art?
This question actually brings me back to one of my very first digital lettering pieces where I wrote “love yourself first” and if I look at my other pieces my work is mostly about how people see themselves. I hope with my artworks that I can encourage people to be nice to each other, but mostly to themselves. There’s some truth in the statement “if you look good you feel good”.
I just think that it’s really important to spread awareness about mental health, and if I can’t really express it with my own words I think that art is an amazing way for me to speak. Even if I reach 1 person that didn’t know some info that I shared I’ve succeeded.
Comments