Concord Exhibit Explores The Many Faces Of Mental Health: Watch

CONCORD, NH — A multi-media exhibit at Concord High School hopes to raise awareness and end the stigma about mental health issues by combining both art and science, and portraying some of the many faces, including celebrities and politicians, who have dealt with it firsthand.

The Many Faces of Our Mental Health, which features photos, paintings, and sculptures, is on display through December.

Artist Lynda Michaud Cutrell put together the display around four years ago as a way of starting community engagement around mental health in New England. She said many people do not understand the true science around mental health. Cutrell said she found “champions, with great stories of recovery,” to show that even with a diagnosis, people can live very productive and happy lives. Actress Glenn Close is featured in one of the photos; so is former Massachusetts Gov. Mike and Kitty Dukakis.

Dellie Champagne helped bring the exhibit to Concord which was first at the Concord YMCA and is now at Concord High School.

“It helps us educate and erase stigma,” she said. “Two things that desperately need to happen when we discuss mental health challenges.”

Cutrell said the exhibit also explores history and neurology, not just psychiatry, while science continues to investigate many aspects of emotion and symptoms. She said it was great to have the display at such a large high school because students will, at some point in their lives, encounter a mental health issue themselves, in some form, personally, with a classmate, or even a family member. The sculptures offer a visual component to the mind, fusing both modern and ancient understandings of mental health, she noted.

“The blending of our understanding,” she said, “is muddied. So, I explore the science and how it really affects individuals.”

To schedule a free visit to the exhibition, book a time at Eventbrite.com, linked here. Masks are required (both Champagne and Cutrell were wearing masks but took them off for the video). Groups can also book visits.

For more information about the exhibition, visit the 99 Faces Project site, linked here.

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