Artist Ashleigh Newman takes the ‘Do You See What I See?’ campaign to a new level

Melbourne artist Ashleigh Newman has created a stunning time-lapse artwork to help celebrate this year’s World Mental Health Day campaign for Tuesday 10 October and the ‘Do You See What I See?’ theme.

Spending more than 12 hours drawing and colouring the main campaign image, over eight sessions, the 21-year-old hoisted a digital camera above her desk to create the birds-eye view for this video, bringing the photo to life… from black and white to colour.

See below to watch the time-lapse video and see more than 12 hours of Ashleigh’s work cut down to 90 seconds.

In Ashleigh’s own words, her art is both relaxation and a cause of anxiety, “While art can have a hugely positive affect on my mental health - as it is essentially my own personal form of therapy - it can also, at times, have a negative impact,” said Ashleigh.

“With art, comes a fair amount of negative self-talk and criticism when you feel a piece isn’t working out the way you had hoped.”

“It is greatly challenging to continue working when you have already declared yourself ‘not good enough’ and just want to give up entirely and throw the piece in the bin, which I have done on several occasions.”

“I also experience a lot of anxiety around sharing my work with others, terrified that they might voice the negatives that I have already repeated to myself over-and-over in my own head. Having the confidence in your own work is key, and something that I am trying my hardest to build on!”

“I am incredibly excited to be working with Mental Health Australia this year, as mental health awareness is a hugely important issue to both myself and those closest to me. I hope to inspire others through my work and remind those who are struggling, that they are not alone.”

Ashleigh’s art has been an inspiration to the World Mental Health Day team this year, and another great example of how promising to shed a more positive light on mental health, can reduce stigma and encourage help seeking behaviour.

Making and sharing a mental health promise is easy and takes just a few minutes at www.1010.org.au – a perfect way to engage with World Mental Health Day this year.

Media Contact:
Lach Searle – 0488 076 088