Mental health, that crucial aspect that dwells on the path of our lives, is intimately related to contemporary art and culture. This year, the International Council of Museums will focus the activity of Museum Day on sustainability and well-being, two principles that converge like ocean currents. Art is an area of knowledge that intertwines with our emotions and feelings, allows us to delve into and express our perception of the world, offering us alternative perspectives and ways to face our realities.
Throughout history, numerous artists have used art as a means to communicate their own experiences in the field of emotional health, providing a visual language that transcends cultural and linguistic barriers. The connection between mental health and art is profound and significant, and deserves to be explored and understood.
In places like Lanzarote, mental health is still shrouded in a veil of silence and taboos for a part of society, negatively affecting those who work in the cultural industry. Cultural and creative workers, both self-employed and employees of public and private organizations, often face extremely high levels of stress due to a number of factors, such as lack of support, overwhelming production times, archaic and unprofessional strategies that are imposed in many cultural institutions, or in many cases, a structural and administrative hierarchy dominated by people without the capacity to establish efficient mediation methodologies. Culture, among many other things, is an area that deals with transmitting emotions and feelings, it should not be treated as a game of power and ego, as this only hinders the proper transmission of art and culture to society.
In the artistic and cultural sector, regulations often do not reflect the reality of artistic production. These professionals face significant barriers when trying to produce works or schedule activities, causing many diverse ways of seeing the world to be relegated to administrative ostracism.
Mental health, although increasingly less so, is still a taboo subject for some generations, but art shows us how a vast number of artists have expressed their realities through canvases, sculptures, writings or melodies, as if they were metalanguage designers. Examples such as Manolo Millares, César Manrique, María Belén Morales and Pino Ojeda, reveal concerns and reflections on pain, suffering, the human condition, the connection with nature, identity, feminism, inner strength, spirituality and memory. By studying the experiences of art theorists and researchers such as the American academic and anthropologist Ellen Dissanayake, we can understand the importance of art and culture in emotional development and how these fulfill essential biological and evolutionary functions in our existence. According to her, art serves to facilitate social cohesion, communication and the transmission of cultural information across generations, influencing the emotional and psychological well-being of people.
To address these problems, it is essential to recognize and emphasize the importance of mental health in art and cultural management. It is time to change the prevailing mindset and work to eliminate the stigma associated with mental health. Contemporary art can play an important role in this process, encouraging people to face and express their emotions, opening paths towards empowerment and personal growth.
Art is an area that constitutes a powerful engine of well-being and an effective support tool in the fight against depression, anxiety and other conditions. Through emotional expression, catharsis, mindfulness, increased self-esteem, social connection and art therapy, art can help people cope with their emotional and psychological problems and thus improve their overall well-being.
