RE-CONNECT: A COLLECTIVE EXHIBITION ON THE POWER OF ART TO CONNECT PEOPLE THROUGHOUT AND AFTER THE PANDEMIC

Forth Valley Royal Hospital, 5th May- 17th June 2022

We are delighted to announce that our exhibition 'Re-Connect' will be showing at the Forth Valley Royal Hospital from 5th May to 17th June 2022, as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2022. Running from 4-24 May 2022 this year, SMHAF invites us to explore what it means to Gather, with a programme of over 200 events taking place in communities across Scotland and online. The festival will celebrate bringing the SMHAF community back together after two years at a distance, while also exploring how we can gather in a more inclusive way. Find out more and explore the full programme at www.mhfestival.com.

The Re-connect programme includes a collective exhibition at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Larbert, that will feature artwork from community groups with a strong focus on mental health and creativity. We will be showcasing a wide range of artists’ work created by our social prescription programme such as ‘Artspace’, Flyway Creative Participatory project in partnership with the University of Stirling. The exhibition will open to the public from the 2nd of May 2022 until the 17th June 2022.

The project builds on, and celebrates, the work carried out as part of our Flyway programme which included an international exhibition on mental health in collaboration with Chinese Mental Health Organisation, ‘A Perch for the Thorn Birds’ and has continued and evolved into focused work with the Chinese community in the Stirling area, in collaboration with the University of Stirling.

The exhibition will bring together creations that were made by a wide range of communities in Forth Valley that Artlink Central worked with during the Covid-19 pandemic. The exhibition will be centred around the idea of ‘Gathering through creativity and a range of thoughts and ideas expressed through artwork on how we looked after our wellbeing and mental health during the past two years. Starting from the idea that we are all still recovering, the exhibition and event will look at how we connect with others through creativity post-pandemic.