By Parker McKenzie
Kapi Art Space will be holding an exhibition celebrating artists using art and creativity to facilitate the journey of management and recovery of their mental health and well-being.
The Still Standing exhibition — which opened on 4 March — will feature local art representing resilience in the face of severe weather events and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kapi Inc committee member Gail Koehler said everyone has been affected by the pandemic and storms in some way.
“If you weren’t directly affected, somebody you knew was and it certainly affected the way we live down here,” she said.
“It became difficult. We’ve just got over not seeing my grandkids because of Covid.”
On Sunday 6 March there will be an event held at Kapi Art Space featuring artists sharing their stories, live music and a theatre performance.
Kapi Inc founder Heather Bradbury said everyone has a story of hardship and resilience from the past two years.
“We want to have a platform for people who have that opportunity,” she said.
“When we had the first exhibition, what we found is that people said they’ve never really had an opportunity to tell people why they created this piece of artwork.”
The exhibition normally runs during Mental Health Week, however, because of restrictions and lockdowns it was postponed twice.
Ms Koehler said the team at Kapi Art Space would love anybody who wants to join.
“There’s six of us and the more people we have, the more we can build,” she said.
“If I learned nothing more through the storm, it’s that things get better the more you tell the story, and the more support we have around.”
The event is being run by Kapi Inc in partnership with Yarra Ranges Council. Kapi Art Space is located at 1282 Mount Dandenong Road, Kalorama.
The exhibition will close on 13 March.
