‘IT’S GOOD TO TALK’

Fri 9th Aug – Sun 8th Sept 2024

Artist Talk: Saturday 17th Aug – Time: 3pm at the 128 Telephone Box Gallery

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.” – Karl A. Menniger

Nattering, blethering, chatting, catching up, chin wagging, jawing, chewin’ the fat, shooting the breeze, putting the world to rights, getting it off your chest, shoulder to cry on, talking it through, talking it out, just a few of the many terms for how we express our natural desire to communicate and connect with one another. We start talking before we are able to form words, however listening is just as vital. Communication is a two way street, being present in the moment, not just listening to yourself talk. When someone actively listens to us and we feel heard, the tangible connection created opens the door to honest and meaningful conversations, which enrich and nourish us as individuals and as members of communities.

As humans, we are thinking and feeling beings, as distinct and individual as a snowflake. But we have more in common than that which divides us. The need to be seen and heard and to find spaces of mental and physical safety are universal for all of us. Talking to each other and expressing our feelings and emotions honestly and openly, helps to remind us that we often aren’t as alone as we may think.

With the advent of the mobile phone, the way in which we communicate and connect with one another has changed and evolved enormously. Email, text, and social media have made it easier than ever before to keep in touch with contacts spread far and wide, but what about closer to home? Have we lost an element of personal connection in the increasingly online world? Do we still chat at the bus stop or in the queue in shops? These moments of connection are perhaps more important than ever before.

The Emergency Services, Childline, and The Samaritans continue to receive thousands of calls each year from Telephone Boxes. Despite how widespread the use of mobile phones has become, the Telephone Box remains a lifeline for many. Lack of signal, flat battery, poverty, control and abuse, it remains a vital service.

This artwork is designed to be interacted with. Try using the cans to listen to someone. (Access to the gallery from the 17th August). Share your thoughts and images using the hashtag #128TBG

About Artist

“As a contemporary artist, my practice is to create colourful, vibrant, and visually interesting artworks, exploring the multifaceted and complex range of emotions, perceptions, traits, and tendencies which define the human condition. Themes of mental health, gender, and identity permeate my work. I am motivated by the need to channel, manage, and direct my own thoughts and emotions. While my works are predominantly autobiographical in nature, there are many themes which resonate within, and without, the human experience. Art and mental wellbeing go hand in hand for me, with this in mind I find I am driven to make sculptural and interactive artworks, with tactile, sensory, and brightly coloured elements to inspire joyfulness and playfulness in the viewer/user. When we play we are transported back to earlier days in our lives, when perhaps we found it easier to be exactly who we are without fearfulness or insecurity. I am developing a personalised visual language with which to fully explore these themes, using a mixture of colour, shape, texture, and interactivity.

I am a Perth based, Scottish contemporary artist. After 20 years as a health professional in the NHS, I have been honing my skills as a full time art student, studying towards a BA Honours in Art & Contemporary Practices at Perth UHI. I use a range of media to explore my ever expanding visual language, including painting, drawing, sculpture, digital mediums, and photography. I am interested in almost everything, and believe that anything can be a source of inspiration, artistic or otherwise. I explore and abstract my own thoughts, feelings, desires, and emotions through art as a form of therapy. The belief that the creative arts act a universal equaliser, regardless of gender, race, sexuality, or socio-economic background is at the core of my artistic practice.’

MENTAL HEALTH AND OTHER SUPPORT NUMBERS: