The portraits in the The Art of Being Me exhibit are larger than life, 3 ½-foot squares focused on the faces of 22 people in the Springfield community.
People of all ages, races, and gender identities stare, some smiling and some serious, but all engaging the viewer as they share their stories about mental health.
“Mental health at one level or another has a huge impact on everyone… but maybe we look at it blindfolded and think, ‘They’re fine. They’re not dealing with something,'” he said. artist randy bacon, who created the exhibit in collaboration with the Burrell Foundation. “So the idea is to show as broad a demographic as possible with people, as broad as story types; ultimately, if someone else is dealing with something, he doesn’t feel alone.”
The exhibit will be open to the public at Randy Bacon’s Springfield studio, 209 W. Commercial St., beginning June 4. He will be there through July, before embarking on a tour that includes Columbia and Louisville, Kentucky.
The Art of Being Me is part of 7 Billion Ones, Bacon’s “nonprofit humanitarian stories movement,” which embraces the idea that each of the roughly 7.8 billion people in the world has an important individual story that tell.
The exhibit, which includes video portraits and still photography, was created when Bacon was approached by the executive director of the Burrell Foundation, Gabrielle Martin. Martin wanted to start sharing stories of mental health and addiction, and “through those stories, start to change the narrative about mental health.”
“We want the community to know that we need to talk about it,” Martin said. “That is the most important. We need to keep the conversation going, that’s how we’re going to help each other. We want those who are struggling to know that they are not alone and that there is help.”
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Letting people know that help is available was Erin Hession’s main motivation for sharing her story. Hession was sexually abused on multiple occasions by a nanny’s husband between the ages of 5 and 8, leading to a lifelong struggle with anxiety.
“I was 47 years old before I got help and I don’t want any other child to wait 40 years. I hope I can empower someone to know that there is hope and there is help,” said Hession. “These things can be overcome, it’s a long journey, but you can find who you are and who you want to be and that’s what I hope to do for someone.”
Martin hopes that the representation in the exhibition can help people realize that mental health is something that affects everyone.
“(Part of) our mission says ‘This is your brother, your sister, your friend, your colleague, your father. This is me.’ And that’s where the whole concept of ‘me’ and ‘The art of being me’ comes from,” he said.
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Hession had tried before to seek help for anxiety, but it didn’t work.
“That’s probably one of the most important parts of my story: not giving up on getting help because, like I said, I saw a couple of other therapists. They weren’t the right fit for me, and (my therapist) and I, when we say what we’re thankful for at Thanksgiving, my husband and kids always say they’re thankful for (my therapist),” Hession said. “Because I am complete, and I am a better mother and a better wife, and I can live my life happily and for a long time, I lived it in fear.”
Susan Szuch is the health and public policy reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on Twitter @szuchsm. story idea? Email him at [email protected].
