“Inside the Darkness,” a traveling art installation created by survivors of suicide and intended to raise awareness about suicide prevention across Tennessee, will be on display at Barnes & Noble at Vanderbilt beginning Oct. 1. The installation is hosted by Your Heart on Art and funded by the Team Mica Fund.
“Creating a collaborative art project is not only beneficial to the survivors, but also sends a powerful message to the community when it is displayed in exhibitions and publications,” said Eileen Wallach, founder and executive director of Your Heart on Art, Inc. “Art plays a vital role in raising awareness and breaking the silence and shame surrounding suicide.”
The collaborating artists were asked to create a mask that depicts someone they lost to suicide, how they have survived and overcome that loss, where they are now, or their own pain or struggle. More than 50 boxes filled with masks were produced. The solid black boxes will form a wall that will travel the state to raise awareness about suicide prevention during the month of September, which is Suicide Awareness Month.
“This is the second year we have collaborated on an art project,” Erin Holcomb, founder of the Team Mica Fund, said. “The goal for this year is to make an impact and have people asking the question ‘How can I help?’ This piece asks the viewer to take a look ‘Inside the Darkness,’ thus opening the conversation on such a hard subject.”
The five art classes that produced the masks were provided free of charge and hosted by different organizations, including the Team Mica Fund, the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, Family and Children’s Services and the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network.
About Your Heart on Art
Your Heart on Art is a nonprofit that promotes emotional healing through therapeutic art workshops in Nashville and throughout Tennessee. Its mission is to facilitate emotional healing through art and creative expression for those who are living in grief, pain, stress and fear. Learn more at www.yourheartonart.org.
Contact: John Lasiter, (615) 343-2665
john.lasiter@vanderbilt.edu