A year of hard work has paid off for Rotorua artist Kristian Lomath whose Seclusion Circle Series has opened in Rotorua before touring to Tauranga and Auckland.
Mr Lomath received a $6000 grant from the Mental Health Foundation for an art installation that would help raise awareness of mental health issues.
His own experiences of depression were the starting point for the exhibition that opened at his Eruera St gallery on Saturday night.
"It is very personal, but it also makes sense to a lot of people. It is quite raw and won't be everybody's cup of tea, but hopefully people will take the time to think about it."
Mr Lomath said the layout was a little unusual, but illustrated the fact that life was not always nice and orderly.
Having isolated himself in a rural location and become obsessive about his art to the point where he was living on caffeine and Panadol and never seeing other people, he knows that only too well.
Ongoing treatment and the need to interact with other people for this project have changed his life immeasurably and that shows in how the work has evolved in the past year.
Initially the exhibition was a series of panels that enclosed the viewer, simulating the isolation that accompanies many mental illnesses. While part of the installation still reflects that, the later parts are more expansive.
"It reflects how I was at the start - very closed up - but now I am completely open."
He said the installation had come together in "little steps" which mirrored his one-day-at-a-time recovery process.
Other local artists with experience of mental illness have also contributed with work from Barbara O'Reilly, Yvonne Westra, Malcolm Hore, George Andrews and Anna Revell.
Video interviews with all six artists run alongside the art itself, which Mr Lomath said helped make the connection between the artists, their work and their experiences with mental illness.
* Seclusion Circle Series runs at the Art Expo Gallery, 1141 Eruera St, until August 29, and will be at Creative Tauranga in Willow St, Tauranga from September 1-12. The installation will then move to Auckland's The Depot Artspace.
