‘Art against Stigma’ Project

Opening of the Dublin Exhibition of the Lundbeck ‘Art against Stigma’ Project

Cowshed Gallery, Farmleigh Estate, 3.30 p.m. 8th September 2010 (Amended speech)

A Cháirde, gabhaim  míle buíochas libh as ucht an onór seo, cuireadh a fháil chun an taispeántas breá seo a oscailt. Ní aon saineolaí mé, chun an fhírinne a rá, ar chúrsaí ealaíone. Ach is léir nach ealaíon amháin atá i gceist an seo inniú, bíodh go bhfuil an ealaíon féin an-tábhachtach. Tá seirbhís phoiblí fíor-thábhachtach faoi chaibidil anseo mar feicimid ealaíon in úsáid chun ár dtuiscint uile ar na dúshlán a bhaineann le galar intinne a thuiscint. Agus chun dul in aghaidh meoin nó dearcaidh diúltacha nó aineolacha i leith daoine le galar intinne. Doras atá san ealaíon, doras a osclaíonn muid don tuiscint, don trócaire, don meas, don chomh-oibriú agus don ghrá.

Friends, I am not a professional art critic. Nor do I possess any real gift for art, I am artistic in roughly the same manner Jedward are: rarely, and only then by accident. Even my capacity for enjoying art can hardly be described as exhaustive, on a recent trip to Florence I felt so overwhelmed by the depth of artistic beauty there that I almost felt unable to visit any museum or gallery, and nearly confined myself to various ice-cream shops along the streets.  

Art is something, however, that I have always regarded as a good-in-itself, not in need of any ulterior justification such as being of benefit to a nation’s economy, or providing college places to bohemian layabouts. Despite my own lack of artistic ability I recognise art as central to what it means to be human. Without creativity and beauty human existence is more easily reduced to technocracy and materialism.

Art helps us probe the depths of our human experience. There are a million different ways in which we can distract ourselves from the big questions of life and the problems and challenges of life. But great art drags us before the wholeness of our humanity, demands of us that we stand beneath the stars, that we reflect on the mysteries of our existence, and on our smallness within the universe. Pithy aphorisms often conceal the truth as much as they reveal it, but I think the Irish artist Francis Bacon condensed a whole treatise on aesthetics into the line: ‘The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.’

All of those involved in the genesis and flourishing of ‘Art against Stigma’ are to be congratulated for their great public service. The history of the treatment of mental health in Ireland is not a proud one, and although progress has been made, it is too slow to meet the standards of a proper civilised society. But many people have chosen not to curse the darkness. Instead they have lit not one but many candles, and the growth of this project since the initiation of the Lundbeck Art Project in 2000 is an example of this.

In the famous Greek epic, The Odyssey, Homer distinguishes between the civilised and the barbaric, between the world of those who live well and those who live in the sense of mere animal survival. Civilised people delight in the fine arts, enjoy athletic contests and leisure. They value knowledge, and cultivate the practical arts like shipbuilding, agriculture and weaving. Barbarians are the opposite. They lack an appreciation of things like beauty, play and the life of the mind and spirit.

When Odysseus, the main character, wanders in the land of Phaeacia, he is welcomed into a society of peace where people work for the common good, honor the gods and respect the rule of law. The civilised people of that land not only work industriously but enjoy the fruits of civilization, feasts, banquets, music, dance, poetry, conversation, athletics, games. This balanced human way of life originates in the home – the place where sensibilities are refined and hearts attuned to what is good, true and beautiful.

It is because of the imperfect state of our world – our dependence on legalism, political ideology, fashionable opinion and utilitarianism, that the world that I have described seems utopian. Perhaps it seems naïve to even bring it up.

But a look at the amount of conflict and division in our society today – between right and left, atheist and believer, liberal and conservative, government and governed, west and east, well-to-do and impoverished, influential and marginalized, – and that these divisions are felt both at home and abroad – it is perhaps more possible to believe that we must once more cultivate the virtues of the heart if we are to solve our problems. By the virtues of the heart I mean such things hospitality, loyalty, tenderness, purity, gratitude and an appreciation of beauty.

It seems to me that the eradication of stigma, in this case stigma around mental illness, is not just a matter of showing what persons facing particular challenges in life can achieve, the better to convince a wider society of people’s potential, people’s equality and people’s rights.

All of that is important of course. But I am not convinced that the language of achievement and of rights alone will solve the problems and unlock the doors of equality and opportunity in our society.

I am convinced that something needs to happen at the level of the heart. As you all probably know, a very famous person will visit Britain at the end of next week, and the figure of John Henry Newman, one of the greatest writers and thinkers in the English language, will be exalted. Newman has been described as above all else an explorer of the experiences of the heart, and ‘Heart speaks unto heart’ has been chosen as the motto for the papal visit. Newman said that it was through the imagination, through the metaphors, it is through the language of the heart, that the things of God most come through to us, rather than through the logic of argument or eloquent discourse. We see this in the great art that has come down to us. But surely it is also true of our relationships with each other. The better world that we seek to create, where the dignity of each human person at all stages and situations of life is properly honoured and vindicated, where people are given the opportunities they need not just through to survive but to thrive, to grow and to flourish, surely this is something that can only be achieved through the engagement of our imaginations as well as our intellects, our hearts as well as our minds.

And that is why we owe so much to those whose art is exhibited here today. They have not just expressed themselves personally and artistically, and opened themselves up - those of us who come and see are opened up too. Heart speaks to heart. I mentioned earlier that art is a good-in-itself and requires no further justification – but that is not to say that it serves no purpose. The philosophy behind ‘Art against Stigma’ sees in human creativity the ability to express the sometimes inexpressible, and to help bring healing and hope to wounds and frustration. ‘Art against Stigma’ recognizes the potential inherent in all human beings regardless of the obstacles we sometimes have to face.

I have pleasure in opening this exhibition, in honouring those who have made it happen, those whose works of art are on display, their families, carers and loved ones. I wish this much success in these days and for a long time to come.