Over 100 people showed up to the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) Ottawa Chapter’s first annual Brain and Mental Health Art Show March 9 at the Grounded Kitchen and Coffeehouse.
The art show showcased about 40 different pieces of art and video projects related to the brain and mental health.
Samantha Santoni, a second-year neuroscience student at Carleton, submitted a piece of artwork for the show. She said she thinks the show was a good way to raise awareness about brain and mental health issues.
“Even though it’s such a common thing, it’s something that so many people struggle with, it’s still such a taboo issue, it’s hidden under the rug and it’s just not discussed as much as it should be,” Santoni said.
Santoni said she’d already created a video that fit within the criteria for the art show, so she decided to submit it.
“It was a personal project that I did. I never intended anybody to see it,” she laughed. “I guess you could call it a music video. I did it to a song that’s about someone who has borderline personality disorder, and then I just did a music video over it.”
The submissions were divided into categories based on age. They were then judged by members of the neuroscience departments at Carleton and the University of Ottawa, as well as committee members from the SFN, said SFN representative Valerie St-Onge.
The pieces were also up for silent auction, with the proceeds going to the Do It For Daron Campaign, which was established to raise awareness about youth mental health following the suicide of 14-year-old Daron Richardson in 2010.
“Even in teens and young adults, depression and mental disorders are a really big issue, and so many people are just too afraid to talk about them,” Santoni said.
St-Onge said the turnout to the event was “phenomenal” and the SFN will look to host the art show again next year.
“We got a fantastic response from the community and we really got a cross-section of the community,” she said. “We’ve got artists, we’ve got scientists, we’ve got people in elementary school and high school, hundreds of different points of views and the arts pieces really reflect that.”
The event wrapped up the SFN’s Brain Awareness week, which ran March 5-9. Carleton students did over 30 presentations about the brain at different high school and elementary schools, St-Onge said.
“I think discussions regarding mental health just in general are important, whether we’re talking about stigmas, or whether we’re talking about people not necessarily knowing what mental health really is about,” St-Onge said.
