My Normality
My Normality is a series of artist commissions developed for the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2021.
The commissions range from a film using drag to symbolise the transformative effects of medicine on a person's life to a series of spoken-word pieces confronting unhealthy attitudes towards food and the body. They will address the 'normality' of everything from everyday racism to living with endometriosis, anorexia and cystic fibrosis. They will be showcased on the SMHAF website throughout the spring and summer.
Andrew Eaton-Lewis, arts programme officer for the Mental Health Foundation, said: “Since this time last year the media has been full of phrases like ‘the new normal’ and ‘going back to normal’.
"But everybody’s normality is different, and that was always going to affect how the Covid-19 lockdown impacted on people’s mental health. With this commission we wanted to explore what ‘normality’ means to artists across Scotland, during lockdown in particular but also before and after.
"The quality, variety and volume of proposals we received was incredible. We had originally planned to choose six but the shortlist was so strong that ultimately we decided to support eight; we wish we could support them all. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who applied and that we hope we can find other ways to support your work in the future.”
My Normality is supported by Creative Scotland as part of the programme for the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2021.
Commissioned Work
