“My artwork  expresses my ongoing relationship with  mental health and  spiritual growth - it helps to visualise the invisible and share a message of hope.”

Danika McElroy, Brighton based, considers herself to be an intuitive artist. Her main artistic inspiration is her own mental health challenges and a search for deeper spiritual meaning. She uses the dynamic nature of watercolours to capture the raw extremities of thoughts and feelings she experiences - from the depths of depression, to the heights of elation, and the questions of our existence as a whole. Danika’s meticulous and sensitive nature is reflected with the finer details of her work expressed through the use of pen and ink. A combination of colour and symbolism, influences from nature, the sky and the cosmos, helps tell her story. The use of an anonymous silhouette allows anyone to place themselves within the scenes and relate to the artwork in their own way.

Danika graduated from Brighton University with a Product Design Degree. She has since returned to her innate love for painting. Her paintings were exhibited in the 2019 Brighton Artist Open Houses where she was shortlisted for a ‘Creative Celebration Award’. Her piece ‘Society’ was later published in the Big Issue Magazine. A highlight for Danika was sharing her story at the Mind Charity media awards in London, following a severe episode of depression. She aspires to show that a fulfilling life can still be led regardless of extreme emotional states.

You’ve chosen a terrific way to integrate images and text into your website. Move the image anywhere you want in this container and the text will wrap around it automatically. You can display events team members new products and more easily and creatively. To start add an image from the Image Picker and edit it as you would edit any image in the system. For example you can link the image to existing pages in your site a website URL a popup or an anchor. After you’ve chosen the image add your text. You can add text that describes the image you’ve selected or simply use the image for decorative purposes. \nYou’ve chosen a terrific way to integrate images and text into your website. Move the image anywhere you want in this container and the text will wrap around it automatically. You can display events team members new products more easily and creatively. To start add an image from the Image Picker and edit it as you would edit any image in the system. For example you can link the image to existing pages in your site a website URL a popup or an anchor. Add your text after you’ve chosen the image. You can add text that describes the image you’ve selected or simply use the image for decorative purposes.

"An artist can show things that other people are terrified of expressing"

Louise Bourgeois

Dawn Blake’s art education began in 2007 at MET and she went on to study Fine Art Sculpture at University of Brighton. In 2016 she was nominated winner by the Creative Future judges panel for the Tight Modern exhibition and the following year she won first prize for the winners Tour Exhibition.

Dawn uses a wide multi-disciplinary approach incorporating domestic objects into performance, film and installation, as well as the use of embroidery and casting objects. Her work has continued to be influenced by observing the realm of the domestic in everyday events. "This is interesting to me as they are often repetitive routines in life which regularly go unnoticed"

Dawn’s performative art is a form of endurance with messages often charged with hidden codes of violence dressed up in a theatrical playfulness. One of the photographs featured in the exhibition capture her performance of ‘Detritus’ - part of a large scale collaborative exhibition in Brighton where Dawn spent 4 hours naked in an enclosed space open to the public. However, during this time when they thought no one was watching some spectators subjected Dawn to a barrage of abuse with verbal taunts and physical threats of violence.  Attempts were made to cut her hair and set it alight. She was even threatened with rape by a menace who tried to enter the enclosed space. 

By using the female body as a landscape the ageing process is symbolised by sagging flesh and skin that flakes into dust and debris all part of a life cycle. Front doors, back doors, what goes on behind closed doors, all suffused with hidden meaning.

Terence Wilde (b.1963) is a visual artist based in London. He gained a degree in textiles at Winchester School of Art, graduating in 1986. Using his degree Wilde worked as a fashion print designer in the West End for many years before retraining through Croydon's voluntary mental health services. It was here that he was able to use his creativity to help people express themselves and he still does this today within a hospital setting.

Wilde draws on his own mental health journey, from the perspective of an adult survivor, in all his black and white works. Working mainly in pen drawing or ceramic, Wilde describes his works as responses to different periods in his life and personal situations. They show struggles, fears and dreams, and help Wilde to heal and to make sense of his life at any given time.  He sees this process as part of a growing connection with the authentic self, something which is of upmost importance in his life's work. To be transparent and show vulnerability is at the heart of Wildes life and relating to this human condition in other artists work is what inspires him.

“To embrace the beauty and brutality of life and reflect these conditions visually, gives purpose to my life” Terence Wilde 2022

The “Otherwise Engaged” Private View features the beautiful artistry of 3 talented practitioners from the Creative Future stable - Danika McElroy, Dawn Blake and Terence Wilde. As well as talking about their own work and creative inspirations, the artists welcome special guest speaker Alison Lapper MBE, 

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