What if creativity was our true currency?
Social Creative Wealth is an interdisciplinary arts project exploring the relationship between creativity, mental health, self-reflection and healing.
Through photography, sculpture, performance art, drawing, writing, prose and the collection of found natural and discarded materials, the project transforms personal experiences of pain, resilience and recovery into creative acts that invite dialogue, connection and hope.
Inspired by Joseph Beuys’ concept of Social Sculpture, the project is rooted in his belief that everyone possesses creative potential capable of shaping society. Building on his statement, “creativity is national income’, the project asks: “what if creativity was our true currency?”, rather than measuring wealth economically. Social Creative Wealth proposes that reflecting on our imagination, compassion and creative expression are forms of social wealth that enrich individuals, communities and our relationship with the natural world.
The work develops through a series of reflective journeys to Inverkip, Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute and Kilcreggan. Walking becomes both research and creative practice, encouraging observation, mindfulness and connection with place. Photographs, drawings, performance art, journals and collected materials become records of these experiences, while found objects are transformed into sculptures that speak of change, memory and renewal.
Presented in The Basement of The Wyllieum during the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival, the project creates an accessible and welcoming space where visitors encounter an evolving archive of images, objects and reflections. Rather than presenting finished artworks alone, the exhibition reveals creativity as an ongoing process of healing and discovery.
Ultimately, Social Creative Wealth challenges the idea that creativity belongs only to artists. It proposes that making, imagining and sharing are essential human capacities that support wellbeing, strengthen communities and encourage empathy.
About the Wyllieum
In keeping with Wyllie’s own approach to his work, The Wyllieum is a free, welcoming space of inspiration and invention, posing questions around what art is and can be.
Home to the largest collection of works by George Wyllie in the world, The Wyllieum, which sits on the River Clyde in Greenock, showcases Wyllie’s work and legacy, will host a rolling display of exhibitions and displays of art which connect to Wyllie by outlook or ethos alongside a permanent collection display showing items from the George Wyllie Estate, ephemera and archival material.
The year-round gallery programme showcases Wyllie’s practice and places it in dialogue with his collaborators while also creating a platform for contemporary artistic responses to his work.
