PICTURE SPECIAL: Flying the flag at Thurso beach for community mental health
Thurso beach had a colourful display of flags and temporary art at a special event to bring the community together under the banner of improving mental health.
The creative and interactive beach installation consisted of flags made by the general public along with people at the Ormlie Community Association in Thurso and Centred mental health charity in Wick. The event took place on Friday, February 21.
Karrie Marshall, the project manager of Creativity in Care which organised the event, said: “We’re an arts organisation and the community comes and says different things and one of these was about stories that were happening around experiences of trying to get help in social care services.
“We can’t directly support people to resolve that issue but what we can do is help them express it through art. Some of us are based up here and some in Alness. We do a lot of work in Caithness.
“There are quite a lot of people who have told the stories who are based in Wick and Thurso. What comes through is the sense of community and how important that is.”
Karrie further explained how some of the artworks on the many flags fluttering in the afternoon breeze represented people’s feelings about “not being able to access services or having really bad experiences”.
“Other flags are about celebrating community or celebrating things that do help people like being in nature or music or art. There is a whole range of different things and we’ve got 100 flags here today.”
Participants were invited to create flags using acrylic paints on old cut-up bed sheets or fabrics, tied to willow or cane sticks. The community-based art installation provided an opportunity for families and individuals to share their creativity and make pertinent statements about accessing services and mental health.
At the event was Charlotte Mackenzie from Arts in Nature who said: “I work with community groups to do creative things outdoors with a nature theme.
“It’s all about feeling the benefits of being outdoors for people suffering from mental health and other long-term health conditions. I’m here to facilitate the beach art and Karrie got all the groups together.”
Charlotte helped set up parts of the installation including hand-made dolls on a seaweed raft to represent people in the community, plus poetry readings about the experiences of individuals.
Two sessions took place at 11am and 2pm and the Creativity In Care team gave people opportunities to share “fun or furious stories” and help with some simply-made film scenes.
“What comes shining through in the Caithness area is a sense of community,” adds Karrie. “So even though service issues exist, people wanted to highlight things that help them, such as neighbours, local community groups, being in nature, and the ‘weirdly magical light’ of Caithness.”
Like many third-sector organisations, Creativity In Care is looking at fundraising possibilities to continue community arts projects. A booklet about the project with images from both Ross-shire and Caithness projects was made available on the day as well.
For more information about the project contact Donna Murray by email at: donnamurray@creativityincare.org
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