Amarachi’s organisation Black Mind is following up the national #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek in May with a creativity and mental health inspired takeover of the Art Bypass Gallery, London in collaboration with Sweet ‘Art. We are curating an exciting programme of culturally & trauma-informed live events including an indigenous Igbo queer feminine art exhibit, a live poetry opening party, 3 wellbeing workshops, collaborative painting & writing, Black-made books for sale and ongoing soul reading sessions. At the intersection of art, activism and mental health care – Black Mind brings you a radical peek under the mask.
During the exhibition period, Amarachi Rachel’s first collection – Amarachi: Uncovering Grace through Chaos will be showing more than 20 pieces finished
We will be featuring 2 healing arts products in the Sweet ‘Art zine library; BadMind, a zine by Black Mind Artists and Little You - Amrachi’4s debut poetry collection.
There will also be the opportunity for visitors to contribute to Make Your Mark: Collective poem creation. This will be a welcoming and ongoing open space where people can write collaborative insights from the space into the group poem on the Black Mind iPad or physically write/draw a reflection on our standing canvas. While unmasking through the week, we archive our thoughts on how creative practices can support a journey of homecoming, transformation and safe surrender. Reflecting with dialogue and drawings, we deconstruct the igbo meaning of “A hụrụ m gị n'anya” - I love you and I see you – with this year’s national mental health awareness week’s theme being loneliness; we ask - how can we as a community better embrace vulnerability?