Today is World Mental Health Day, a day to raise awareness of mental health issues and to support those who experience them.
At Hampshire Cultural Trust, many of our social impact projects focus on supporting people with mental health issues. One project that works with young people is the ICE Heritage Project, a collaboration between Hampshire Cultural Trust and Hampshire CAMHS, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The project aims to use the arts as a positive way for young people to acquire skills and express themselves, with a resulting positive impact on both their psychological health and emotional wellbeing.
ICE Heritage aims to address and explore important mental health issues in young people by creatively engaging with local heritage and arts. Young people on our 10 week programmes explore themes such as identity and self-care and build emotional resilience through participating in creative activity.
In partnership with Winchester Fashion Week 2023 and Winchester BID, our ICE Heritage young people's fashion and costume design work will be included as part of this year's programme, alongside professional artists and commercial outfitters.
The exhibition, Identity: Costume Design runs until Saturday 28 October 2023 at Winchester City Museum. Identity: Costume Design is a temporary exhibition of costume design co-curated by a group of young people who have been working with professional artist, Polly Perry.
The exhibition captures the young people’s creative engagement with leathercraft and textiles for costume design, showcasing a range of skills newly acquired by this talented group. These skills include the stamping, bevelling and dying of leather alongside hand-sewn and machine stitched techniques and the application of structural design, fastenings and fittings.
Examples of the works on display as part of Identity: Costume Design and their creation.
Hampshire Wardrobe provided a fantastic opportunity for these young people to learn about costume characterisation in film and theatre and encouraged the young people to draw on a wide range of themes. From warrior costume imagery to historical floral motifs, mythical iconography, existentialism and popular culture, each piece demonstrates a unique response personal to its maker. Whilst these are functional costumes, they are equally pieces of visual art which resonate with the young people’s own exploration of self and identity.
This exhibition is just one example of how we can support those struggling with their mental health through creativity and engagement with heritage and the arts.
To visit the exhibition, please click on the link below.
