Mixed-media artworks tell Eating Disorder Service users’ stories | News

St Ann’s Hospital is now home to a mixed-media art exhibition created by the Eating Disorders Service’s inpatient and day patient service users and staff.

The artworks created spanned different media including creative writing, poetry, collage, a 3D model of the ward (pictured above) and acrylic painting. Staff members also produced some of their own works.

The exhibition was launched on Tuesday 26 September with refreshments and music for those who attended, which included current and previous service users, their families and friends, Eating Disorders Service staff as well as colleagues from other teams based at St Ann’s.

Artworks expose reality of recovery

Two service users had the idea of displaying the works across the exhibition space in such a way as to reflect their recovery journeys.

A painting that depicted someone whose mind was brimming over with thoughts is among the first to greet exhibition visitors, who move through the space via a collage titled ‘The long and winding road’ (pictured below) and photographs taken by service users on leave from the ward. Poems about struggle and change convey the transportive and transformational experiences that follow embarking on treatment for an eating disorder.

    

"Having artwork on show can help service users feel seen"

Art psychotherapist Eve Jones, who works with the Eating Disorders Service, acknowledged how important the creative arts are to providing mental health care. She said that participating in creative activities allows service users to express themselves and connect with others through sharing in the creative process, as well as by sharing their finished artworks.

Eve emphasised that people with eating disorders can experience profound isolation and that therefore, having artwork on show that they have produced can help them feel seen. She added that sharing lived experiences through art can also increase awareness of eating disorders among the wider community who may not already know much about the reality of living with these illnesses.

Two service users also talked about the benefits art therapy has brought to their eating disorder recovery, and staff at the service who took part in the exhibition got to explore, through collage, what working in eating disorder care means to them and how they each bring their own lived experiences to their roles.

Eve and her colleagues have received a host of positive feedback from attendees in and outside of St Ann’s, including offers to buy some of the works on display.

You can find the exhibition in the link corridor at St Ann’s until Tuesday 31 October.