LFAS Photo-Mosaic Mural

At a glance this project mainly speaks about our community at Langley Fine Arts and our connection with nature, but this project was hugely inspired by the growing rates of mental illness that have become a prominent part of our lives. The Canadian Mental Health Association affirms this statement with statistics showing that 14% of young people will experience mental illness at some point, and that 50-70% of these illnesses will show up before they are 18 years old. Many blame these statistics on the incredible stigma that comes with mental health, and because of this we haven’t taken the time to educate people about what mental illness looks like and how to recognize it.

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In Andrew Solomon’s Ted Talk “Depression, the secret we share” he speaks of depression as being the opposite of vitality. This idea was a very big inspiration for our mural, we hope that by having portraits showing a wide variety of expressions and emotions it will remind people day after day of a different side of themselves they may not feel connected to at that moment in their life. Studies have shown ”exposure to art in healthcare has been found to reduce anxiety and stress”. We have found this to be true as our mural has already helped to create a less tense atmosphere within the school.

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We hope that for years to come this project will continue to foster a sense of community within our school by uniting us as individuals with wide ranges of emotions and characteristics.

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