Where Is My Mind? is a group exhibition bringing together artists with lived experience of mental health challenges. The project explores how artistic practice can function as a coping mechanism, a form of care, and a way of maintaining stability, while acknowledging the realities of making work alongside anxiety, depression, neurodivergence, trauma, and burnout. Rather than romanticising artistic suffering or framing mental health as a barrier to creativity, the exhibition centres on process, adaptation, and sustainability. It highlights the practical and emotional systems artists develop to continue working, positioning art-making as something that can coexist with vulnerability and uncertainty. The exhibition is part of a wider season of activity and is accompanied by public seminars held both in person at Quench Gallery and online. Artists will speak openly about their working methods, boundaries, and support structures, creating space for honest, peer-led discussion.

What we'll deliver:

• A group exhibition foregrounding mental health-aware artistic practice

• A public seminar programme sharing lived experience and practical knowledge

• Increased visibility and dialogue around mental health in the arts

• Opportunities for people in Margate experiencing mental health challenges to engage with the arts

Why it's a great idea:

This project is important because mental health challenges are widespread within the arts, and in coastal towns such as Margate many artists work in isolation, freelance conditions, and precarious economies. While Margate has a growing creative community, there are limited public spaces for open discussion around mental health, working conditions, sustainability, or access to the arts for people experiencing mental health challenges. Where Is My Mind? responds by creating a visible, supportive platform centred on lived experience. Through an exhibition and a programme of in-person and online seminars at Quench Gallery, the project supports practicing artists while also providing an accessible entry point for those experiencing mental health challenges to engage with creative practice. By foregrounding process rather than productivity, the project challenges stigma and the romanticisation of artistic suffering, encouraging healthier and more sustainable approaches to creative practice

Steps to get it done:

• Confirm timeline, budget, and dates at Quench Gallery.

• Invite and confirm Kent-based and international artists.

• Finalise exhibition, seminar, and workshop content.

• Prepare and install exhibition; set up online delivery.

• Open exhibition and deliver in-person and online seminars.

• Capture exhibition and seminars through photo, video, and text.

• Share resources and documentation online and in print.