The most interesting thing that happened to me since Coronavirus

Better Faces in my Time

I work with two other students to raise awareness for mental health. The project was created in reaction to the Coronavirus pandemic and to help cope with the “new normal”. Lockdown caused many unknowns and led to increased anxiousness, loneliness and claustrophobia. We wanted to make accessible creative projects for our community, so people had an outlet for expression and meditation away from the stresses of the world, whilst in-hand, raising awareness for mental health.

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Our first task...

This continuous line drawing would be accessible to many people and as you don't look at the page it is free from judgement, as they all look a bit strange! I love continuous line drawings because I find them freeing. You have little control over the final image, so it is a natural and interesting outcome - with a totally new perspective on the thing you are drawing.

We printed the task as a postcard and on the back was this support about how to cope with coming out of lockdown.

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Our second task...

To further the therapeutic nature of our tasks, we suggested writing down your current thoughts and feelings before sketching over the top with a new colour. I did it a few days in a row - one day I wrote about how I had been feeling over lockdown, the things I experienced and the things I realised about myself; I also wrote about what I had been thinking about that day or what had been on my mind. Other days I chose a piece of text, a photograph or an image from a magazine that I liked or felt was important in my life to draw my portrait over.

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Our work is being exhibited at Rugby Art Gallery and Museum and in the windows of Warwick Space community centre.

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Our most recent project is our calendar competition. We launched the competition on World Mental Health Awareness Day this year. We asked people to create an image reacting to the themes, “Treading Water”, “The Rainbow after the Storm” and “New Beginnings”.