Ágota Adorjáni (Romania)

A different kind of view No filter photo, made with my iPhone. Location: Putna, Suceava, Romania. Date: 12 August 2022. A trip with my relatives to the monasteries of Moldova, Romania. This is the only intact wooden medieval (ca. 14th-15th century) church in Romania.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Anna Polibina-Polansky (Malta)

I practice a technique which allows me to embody various earthly landscapes at bright sketchery. I held several personal expositions of my painting in oil and exhibitions for my miniatures in ink and aquarelle, in Moscow, Basel, Valetta; in the 2010s.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Anouk Drieskens (Belgium)

Spinning thoughts Intangible, fleeting Unstoppable Fast-paced do they take me away In a vertiginous whirlpool Always higher and higher Tiring bliss To me, this painting represents an image of dancing figures and dancing is one of the ways in which I can express the ecstasy I experience during a hypomania. Hypomania also evokes in me a passion for life, my creativity flows and I can feel a tingling in every fibre of my body. I can even sense what is like a slight electric impulse in my head. Furthermore, I lived in Tunisia in my early twenties and the colours in this painting remind me of that wonderful period in my life.

Painting comes to me intuitively: it’s as if the brush takes possession and puts my thoughts and feelings on paper. I experience painting as an unstoppable drive that forces itself on me and only gives me satisfaction when the work is finished. Painting is -along with shopping, sexuality, dance and writing- one of the ways in which I can express the intensity I experience in those hypomanic moments. For me, creating art means expressing what is hidden deep inside me in terms of feelings and thoughts and deal with their intensity. I can express my restlessness, ecstasy, loneliness, desire, isolation, despair and sadness in my artwork.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

WINNING ARTIST

Arvid Nilsson (Sweden) 

Me and my dad were out walking in the forest during winter. I like the pattern created by the branches and the spots where there are no branches looks very pleasing.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

August De Puysseleir (Belgium)

A different kind of view No filter photo, made with my iPhone. Location: Putna, Suceava, Romania. Date: 12 August 2022. A trip with my relatives to the monasteries of Moldova, Romania. This is the only intact wooden medieval (ca. 14th-15th century) church in Romania.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Bianka Koti (Hungary)

We can see a room from above, locked in a frame. I wanted to create a claustrophobic atmosphere, but at the same time infinity too: two walls of this room have one-one picture hanging, with the same three-dimensional effect. These symbolise suffering which is choking and this feeling seems like a never ending story. In the middle of the picture, there is a girl who is already dead, she was suffocated. Her blood paints the floor. With her hair she tries to connect to one of the heart (from under).But this heart gives the blood-the living force to somewhere else. The other heart hangs around the girl’s neck and steals from her everything with its veins and aortas toxically.

This heart symbolises those people-relations-triggers which are basicly living parasites and destroy the girl’s life, and the other heart (from above) show those people-relations-impulses, which the girl exactly needs, but from unknown reasons she can’t get that.ion: Putna, Suceava, Romania. Date: 12 August 2022. A trip with my relatives to the monasteries of Moldova, Romania. This is the only intact wooden medieval (ca. 14th-15th century) church in Romania.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Brigita Krek (Slovenia)

The Mill (acrylic on canvas, 30 cm x 40 cm) A bird, a mill, waves on a river, flowers, a snake. Although the title of this work is “Mill”, a mill is presented almost equally well with other images. The building of the mill and the corresponding mill wheel itself are on the right side of the composition. A bird is looking at the opposite part of the picture. In the lower part under the blue waves, there are plants arranged in abstract forms. The Head of a snake is completing them in the right corner. Although at first glance the chosen motives are mutually exclusive, they are connected through the way the image is depicted. Specifically, figures are composed as the sums of different geometric shapes arranged in a meaningful whole. The motif itself stands out from the blue background because of the black contours and lively color palette. Although it includes quite a bit of blue and green, the image feels warm because of the yellows and shades of orange. This work is the author’s favourite.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Charlie Carter (Wales)

“Self Isolate”- pen/paper piece remastered digitally that I completed during lockdown, exploring the dichotomy of both the isolation of lockdown and the comfort of one’s personal space as a place of safety.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Danka Zoltán  (Hungary)

An alcoholic has already drunk everything (alcohol has taken his house, car, jewellery–etc) Now he’s delirious on the wine vine!

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Dubniczky József (Hungary)

My favourite drawing tool is felt-tip pen, but I try very hard to draw abstract representations. I’ve read about impostor syndrome, where someone is an expert in a particular field but feels they are deceiving others with their work because they don’t know anything and what they do is just shoddy. Even though I don’t have an art degree, I often feel like I draw like a three year old and I’m not good at what I do. This drawing expresses the varied emotions I feel when I listen to music, I often feel like the happy dancing woman in the picture.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Ema Marenk (Slovenia)

The girl and the white-brown kitten happily go to grandma’s. Karin and her grandma bake cookies with jam. On the day of her departure, Karin says goodbye to her grandmother and takes a box of cookies, which they baked together for Karin. When Karin gets back home, her parents promise her, that one day she could live with her grandma in Australia.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Emine Yasemin Şenyurt (Turkey)

Autumn can be a start. Life and death,  disease and health cannot be considered separately. Keep finding colors…

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Francesca DelGuidice

(United Kingdom)

‘Taking Off The Mask’ on men’s (a British man here is the model) mental health struggles. The photos progress through a covered face with sunglasses and a top hat showing the ‘Victorian’ way of dealing with mental health problems for men by masking them. Then a photo of a more modern look showing no hat and modern sunglasses with the urge and movement to remove them from the face. The final photo shows the reflective look of the modern approach to men’s mental health, having finally removed the mask on men’s mental health struggles.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Franci Cimerman (Slovenia)

A different kind of view No filter photo, made with my iPhone. Location: Putna, Suceava, Romania. Date: 12 August 2022. A trip with my relatives to the monasteries of Moldova, Romania. This is the only intact wooden medieval (ca. 14th-15th century) church in Romania.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Gareth Evans   (Wales)

Aberystwyth seascape- Abstract acrylic on paper

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Greta Gillet

(United Kingdom)

Self portrait, The government took my children after I reported my husband.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Hava Bauman (Israel)

A portrait of Zadok’s painted in psychiatric department. Zadok was hospitalized with me. In the painting I tried to express his sadness. I think he was not properly understood by the doctors, he didn’t express to them the things he was passing. After he was released home he committed suicide. His memory remains with me. In memory of Zadok.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Igor Polanec (Slovenia)

France Prešeren The portrait depicts the greatest Slovenian poet who lived in the Romantic period. The poet was born into a poor peasant family in 1800. He studied law in Vienna and later moved to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. There he met the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Julija Primic. She became his muse, but the love was unrequited. Prešeren is held in high esteem in Slovenia, this is why a part of his poem Zdravljica became the national anthem after the country became independent in 1991. The anniversary of his death became a national cultural holiday. He was depicted on one of the largest banknotes for 1000 tolar. Today he is featured on a 2-euro coin.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Ilona, Jánosné Kaszás (Hungary)

Title: The flow of life

There are places where the sun still shines, and the plants are strong and not dry.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Jenny Davies

(Wales)

Fashion portrait- pencil

Johan De Grim (Belgium)

The work is a combination of the typical use of red, yellow and bleu squares by Mondrian (who was born exactly 150 years ago) and my own visual language and/or forms language.

WINNING ARTIST

Kaarin Poppe (Belgium)

Title: Only dialogue moves the minds.

The painting is about the beautiful nature, captivating and colourful, smells,… with all its seasons, as well as the sad, powerless, natural disasters, smaller or no habitat for the animals that mankind has in its power. Nature, animals. are close to my heart, …I also love architecture, materials (recycling), design, texture, colour,… In the painting, you can see in the middle, almost all along the line, buildings painted in red coloured lines (of love, and ferocity of nature, (a.o. fire). The buildings are designed in such a way that they are firmly rooted in the ground and go with the movements of natural disasters. In this way, the buildings can continue to exist so that they are not destroyed. In the middle you can see an older model of a lemon car painted in profile with an open roof. My sister used to drive that vehicle and I thought it was a nice car. It looked as if it had been made from recycled tin…., at least that was my experience as a young girl. I experienced something playful and funny, vulnerable (in retrospect), mixed up in that vehicle. The car was somehow out of balance so that the wheels, springs (resaurs), bodywork drove on in an unstable equilibrium. You can also see on the left-hand side of the painting the beautiful lianas from the Tarzan film (when he was young, he saw the good in the good and always overcame the naughty), from which he hung to be able to move from one tree to another. At the bottom right, a large bird with its body and beak turned to the right in its habitat. The bird looks indignantly at two people. One veiled unrecognisable, the other person with his arms open. These 2 are fighting each other. The bird looks angry and says go away, you don’t belong here. At the bottom left you see crocodiles whose habitat has become much smaller and they almost live on top of each other. In the middle left-hand corner of the painting, you can see two horse heads in profile with a piece of the neck and trunk, reaching out to each other’s snouts. I rode horses as a little girl, I was crazy about it and still am. The horses are very often in my paintings, …it has become a part of my inner unconscious life. The last detail I am going to explain is about a woman silhouette that has developed a suit of armour (survival strategy as a child) for protection. She stands at the top in the middle of nature, chaos where she tries to stand her ground in this harsh world where inequality reigns. I have tried to make the story short and to the point, which does not mean that I can say much more and that is reflected in the painting. If you look at the painting yourself, you might experience, see, …. The nice thing about it is that everyone can see something different, which makes it fascinating to enter into a dialogue with people.

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Kateřina Damiána Kuželová

(Czech Republic)

Mummmies are painted by magic markers. This is one of picture, which I had in the exhibition.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Katrien Delvaux (Belgium)

I just take random material, colours which I put on the paper and I create intuitively. When something in me tells me to stop and I can feel it, I stop and the artwork is born.

Laura Jones

(Wales)

One of Laura’s many paintings inspired by the work of Van Gogh, incorporating her own style. Acrylic on canvas.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Liel Milstein (Israel)

In my creations I am surrounding by spiritual entities and I’m the center. This is my inner and deep world which through that I show a pinch of what schizophrenic deal with. The white glasses represent the vision from my inner world, and through them I see our big world. The asymmetrical glasses because the human eye in every moment and point of view I see them different. The white color in the glass represents purity, neutral vision, innocence is my inner world only I am expose to it. In Judaism the color white represents a holy day and good luck so as a Jewish I felt it was right to use this color in this art. Through my eyes and my unconscious there is a daily spiritual revelation so I see my mental disorder. As a deal with mental disorder i chose I chose blue clothes as a symbol of the sky. The sky is optimistic that they are blue and clear in a shiny day, and also represent infinite. In Israel there is a common phrase “everything is possible and the sky is the limit”. As for me the sky is just a starting point that means you can do whatever you want and nothing will stop you if you want to succeed, so I’m kind of person

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Lodewyckx Godelieve (Belgium)

In smells and colours The pronounced delicacy of the interplay of feelings fluctuates. My brush strokes its way, chooses a direction, takes a turn. The “being” gives the special colour of love, connectedness and generosity.

Luc Zwijsen (Belgium)

The brain’s control of thoughts and stimuli affects my body with trembling and restless spasms in hands and feet, my mouth gasping for redemption. A report of experiences before my first admission to the psychiatric clinic of Geel B. (O.P.Z.) as an untreated bipolar person under the influence of cannabis.(2014) L.Z.017

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Luka Gruden (Romania)

Janez Bernik, a famous Slovenian artist, was once told by this professor: »This picture has no flaws, thus it is not perfect! A picture is only perfect when it has some flaws. « Luka continues his thought: »In that case, my pictures are very perfect, since they have quite a few flaws! Even so, they function as a whole.« The drawing depicts nature, once again we encounter the typical motive of an insect (a butterfly), women, plants, in other words flora and fauna. Regarding this Luka says: »All living beings are, as we are too, wonderful, unique, diverse! We all should be aware of that! « We can also see a new typical motive of Luka’s – stone architecture, typical for the Slovene North Primorska region, where the author occasionally visits his brother in his free time.

Matthew Perlberg (United Kingdom)

“Reflection”, Recently I was going through a depressive period, brought about by the prolonged solitude imposed upon us by lockdown. I then realised that others must be going through the same, which drove me to paint this painting.

In focus is the man’s face, which is filled with a reflective yet sorrowful expression. Ruminating upon his regrets, he becomes filled with melancholy. The black background represents the dark nature of the man’s thoughts, where he is thinking about all the dejection and misery he has experienced in his life.

When we are suffering on the inside, we conceal our true selves from the rest of the world. We become trapped in a prison of self-doubt – doubts which deter us from the pursuit of our own aspirations and drive us deeper into the depths of despair.

However, once we emerge from this state of despondency, we reveal ourselves to the world as a stronger person, having overcome an inner struggle. The light shining off the man’s face represents this glimmer of hope, and the fundamental idea that no matter how deep our wounds may be, things will always get better.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Matej Kerže (Slovenia)

The Abstract Cuboids The picture depicts cuboids, new feelings of being relaxed and impossible variations.

Mie Nijs (Belgium)

You left us battered Amazement and questions about this unforeseen journey. But there seemed to be no end for you of the struggle. Suffering in countless shades of grey and black, seemed so intertwined with yourself. While you seemed to be a source of joy. But it was only disguise. You could only stay here for a moment, a passer-by. Swimming with the current, you no longer succeeded. no longer. Grateful, I am for the privilege, to be your sister. I learned to appreciate life to the fullest, because of you. appreciate life to the fullest. You had a heart so frightened and fragile, so unstable and so fragile Too early to die Before you had really lived. Forever more my sister

Mikó Alíz Zsófia (Hungary)

I didn’t think about what kind of, but just draw…. It means to me the freedom from lies and the freedom of mind, rights, choices, thinking. When we can look at the “behind the scenes” and know the truth, I think it’s the most important. It’s much more valueable for me than anything else: “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ( John 8:32 ) I can be sure: “I am in the right place and know what I’m doing and have the courage and knowledge for it”. Also, healing is like this too, getting free from a “life sentencing” mental illness. I don’t take medication since the february of 2022. I am happy for where I am at now. I can help others too, those who lost their faith in recovery.

Milan Jíša

 (Czech Republic)

The painting captures a free paraphrase of Saturn’s festivities – saturnalia, which are covertly and unofficially transferred to everyday life

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

WINNING ARTIST

Muriel Treille (Belgium)

This is one of my all-time favourite drawings. It started as an art school exercise: I drew an antique wheelchair from observation, but couldn’t simply leave it empty. So I decided to put a giant squid in it, as I really like cephalopods, intelligent but alien-looking fellows of the animal kingdom that they are. But then I’ve also realised that it represents me, and neurodivergence too, in a way: we need help to move through a world ill-suited to our differences, just as this squid couldn’t move on land without its wheelchair.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Olwen Jenkins (Wales)

Abstract tree painting using paint splatter technique- Acrylic on paper

Péter Keri (Hungary)

Title: What we call true, real, is often a very subjective thing.

The reality that surrounds us is often created, composed. Our world is in many places fictional and staged. I do believe there is great beauty in that. Many times we walk around in our illusory world without even thinking that tomorrow there may be nothing left of these very important scenery. Even without us, this environment reveals a lot about our human connections and their driving forces.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Petra Štaut (Slovenia)

Characters This abstract image features geometric shapes, triangles, and circles of various sizes, shaded in basic colors only.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Richard Thorpe (Wales)

Aberystwyth seafront- Acrylic on paper

Rita Soloman

(Israel)

This painting talks about flow, about things that go through our lives. The colors took the role of the content in the painting. It flows without planning in advance. As our lives cannot be planned in advance. Everyone sees the painting in their own way, through their own eyes and with the things they have been through in life. Unexpected things happen all the way.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Sarah Turner (Romania)

Borth seafront- acrylic on paper

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Shiri Zur

(Israel)

Title: Protective Spike (Blowfish).

Painted in 2000 The Blowfish apparently looks like a sweet Teddy Bear, but it is spiky and solid externally although soft internally. The spikes protect it from dangerous aggressors. The Blowfish expresses love by its mouth which is in the form of a heart❤️, and it looks like a glowing sun moving towards the viewer and gazing at him. It is hard to take your eyes off the Blowfish since it hypnotizes you and gets directly into your heart. For me, the Blowfish seems to be similar to the Coronavirus (Covid) form, and I was therefore motivated to continue painting the Blowfish series during the Coronavirus period.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Szilvia Szilágyi-Major (Hungary)

I made this pastel drawing during one of my art therapy sessions. I did the yellow background first, then the more colourful middle section. It didn’t feel complete, and I involuntarily crumpled up the smaller drawing, finally pasting it onto the yellow sheet. I felt as if I had framed my own life with this gesture. As if a pattern of life had appeared. An imprint of my illness, my wide-ranging interests. My intuition, which plays a prominent role in my life. I discovered in the drawing the flow, the fire and the fly ash, life and death. I saw the duality of fragmentation and healing energy, the power, the dynamism. “Very beautiful, very interesting. I get the impression that you were once broken,” someone said at the end of the encounter. For me, it’s natural, it’s how I am authentically and truly myself.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Tamás Dubniczky (Hungary)

We go hiking and my friend Laci always checks out the hike route, and I get tired of the elevation changes and climbing the hills. But it’s worth it to climb to the top for the spectacular views and to be able to complete the hike. This is what my felt-tip drawing is all about.

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Tímea Csáki (Hungary) 

This portrait of a black cats, and this is my favorite animal. I really like jet-black cats and that’s why I decided to paint more black cats in this picture. All of them has different personalities. They are happy being together and protect each other. It is also very important for me to be in an understanding and cohesive community. These cats are at home, in a warm and protective place with a window looking to the nature outside. For me also very important to have a cosy, warm home full with love and care. But being in nature outside is also my favourite. I also like the pure and saturated colors. Yellow is one of my favorite colors, it represents joy and light.omoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Tomáš Tylich (Romania)

A memory dedicated to Kolumbus’ director Jan Jaroš. This photo is from rehabilitation in Jizerské hory (mountain area) where he was enjoying an autumn sunbath and fall asleep. From his smile, we can tell he had a sweet dream. The photography also shows a statue of a young woman sculpted in a trunk of a tree.

Tóth Judit (Hungary)

I made my diary about the first wave of Covid with applied graphics. Unfortunately, I could only send this first page. The other files were too big because I used many techniques in them. There were collages, montages, etc.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Uroš Benko (Slovenia)

Something cat-like, but an abstract beast, that seeps a liquid through a straw. A stop at a certain point, which does not allow movement. The eyes are a bit frightening, but the rest of the beast is still pleasant. The beast is hard and solid, Yet the colors remain in light shades.

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Vaclav Pelikan (Czech Republic)

Self portrait  This image shows a person who is disturbed by feelings from the outside. Turkish pigments, acrylic, turpentine, industrial markers were used.)

Cactivities aim at promoting good mental health through various forms of art.

Veronika Medlíková (Slovakia)

I’m in church. I wish a lot and thank you for many things. Most of the people in our large family have died. However, there is no need to complain. One must pray for dead souls. Try to look forward to a lot of things and just remember well. What they helped us with when they could. And I will take that flower to the grave of my dear and always laughing and strong old mother. She had three sons. Well, I was her daughter. I’m the first-born granddaughter. But even three sons is not bad, said the old father. She loved everyone equally and made no difference. He who lives in the heart does not die. “Just believe …”

Yuval Hillel (Israel)

Boundary of the birds ‏ A symbol of simplicity for lack of freedom ‏ Theirs, mine .. ‏ Go free and fly their way. ‏ They’re almost successful but not there yet, ‏ Want to touch love and allow the surest path to success for them the best in life until the jump to escape out the window and click to turn on

Žiga Novak (Slovenia)

The author made his way to one of Slovenia’s most popular sights, the Dragon Bridge, with his tripod. This happens during the covid crisis, which was a nice opportunity to take some photos, as the capital was empty at that time, therefore he was able to take pictures in peace.

Žiga Simončič (Slovakia)

THE SUNRISE IN HRUŠICA This photo was taken in the early morning hours when Žiga was riding his moped to a workshop at the Altra Association.

Jitka Šufanová

(Czech Republic)

The picture captures life’s tangle of stories, destinies and chances, where they suddenly emerge like cubes of living water – silver cubes of life. It’s something unexpectedly clean and basically out of the system.

At the same time, they are something unique that can bring an individual out of the confusion of life’s events.