Your word against His
October 9, 2024
Give God the honour and glory in all you do
October 9, 2024
By Kaelanne Jordan
mediarelations.camsel@catholictt.org
As World Mental Health Day was observed October 10, the conversation surrounding mental health awareness and stigma grows ever more vital. Among those contributing to this dialogue is an artist whose work navigates the intricate landscape of mental health through vivid imagery and personal reflection.
Salisha Stanley
Through her creative process, Salisha Stanley transforms her own experiences and observations into a visual language that speaks to the depths of the human psyche.
“Art has always been my way of meditation and a time of contemplation,” Stanley began. It has also become her passion and “a type of calling” that she must answer. Her dual love for painting and reading, especially on ideas about the mind and the way it influences how we experience the world informs her work.
“While painting, I often think about how such images occurred. It is fascinating how the imagination can create something that has never been seen before and at the same time reflecting on a part of the self,” Stanley told The Catholic News.
Toco: a source of inspiration
Growing up in Toco has profoundly influenced her artistic perspective. She returned after many years and moved to Grande Riviere during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019–2022.
“It was a journey into the past filled with memory, and a series of work evolved while being in isolation,” Stanley said.
She described her creative process as one marked by spontaneity. “I rarely think about what I would like to paint,” she admits. “The images usually appear in my mind during different times; while taking a walk, washing the dishes, or even waking from in a dream.” Her environment also plays a part in the type of images that she sees.
Stanley’s work often highlights the connection between imagination and mental health, emphasising art’s potential as a therapeutic outlet. “I think of the imagination as a space where one’s emotions and feelings can appear in a symbolic way.”
For Stanley, the process of painting from imagination creates a type of transportation of memory, thoughts, trauma, or a bad feeling from one space into another, from the mind to a canvas to begin a sort of separation from something painful. “Sometimes I even think that the imagination is a space where the self may be hiding somewhere,” she said.
Women and mental health
The complexities of mental health, particularly concerning women, are prevalent in Stanley’s art. One poignant piece, Imagination Mask, depicts a woman in a room with a mask on her face. She seems to be in another place other than where she sits physically.
“The mask represents something in the real world that carries her into her mind. Behind her is a picture of where she might be,” she explained.
Stanley shared that the subjects in her paintings are usually women who seem to be in deep thought and contemplation. Some of them, like in Imagination Mask, remind her of her mother who is diagnosed with schizophrenia.
She underscored the feminine nature of thinking are said to be of intuition, of creativity, and strong emotional intelligence and so women may battle very much in these areas that are known to be their strengths.
On World Mental Health Day, Stanley believes that art should be viewed as a practice of healing and catharsis. It is not just a practice of doing but also as a thing to experience.
She explained, “there is a blandness in the designs of modern living that affects mental health as well. Beauty is part of our nature and having it as part of our everyday environment is a simple way to begin rewiring ourselves and transforming our physical and mental space.”
In her work, she frequently blurs the lines between reality and the subconscious. She uses collage alongside paint to look similar as a technique of blurring the lines of what is real and what is not. Stanley however thinks of these two spaces as reflections of each other and that they may be able to influence each other.
Spirituality also plays a significant role in her artistic expression. “I think of the imagination as a meeting place, or an inner sanctuary where one may go to see visions and to take part in act of creation. Painting a scene from the imagination is as creating a new world,” Stanley said.
Her recent exhibition, Mind Field, at Medulla Art Gallery, explored the theme of imagination and its connection to mental health. The audience’s response highlighted the resonance of her work, celebrating the liberation of the Caribbean imagination.
Looking ahead, Stanley is excited about her upcoming move to Dominica and the new creative possibilities it may bring. “I am a soon to be mother of two. My art process and ideas may change …but I do wish to continue exploring the power of the imagination as my life’s work,” she said.
Advocacy through art
Stanley is committed to using her platform to further mental health conversations. “I would like to create spaces and residencies where other artists can visit to come up with new ideas. I would like to be an art activist, to study and teach ideas on the mind and what it can offer to us as practitioners of art from that imaginative place,” Stanley said.
On a personal level, her artistic practice has evolved her understanding of mental health. “If I do not paint as I should, I may not be able to function my best,” she admitted.
Stanley hopes that viewers leave her exhibitions with a profound understanding that the imagination is a profound place, and within that place one may find the self, or they may even find something greater… “or they may even find the Creator.”
