Join us for an evening of art exploration with artist/activist Kim Wichera and interdisciplinary artist/IDHA staff member Noah Gokul as they share work informed by topics of mental health, psychiatry, and their artistic practices. Following each artist’s presentation, Kim and Noah will pose questions to one another, inquiring as to how art can shift power dynamics in psychiatry and mental health.
Kim will present work that addresses the transformational processes of mental health and explores the localization of social lines of conflict in the private, and thus the inner. Through the use of video projections, voice, movement, installations, and sound, Kim will share insights into lived experience and how social exclusions are shaped.
Noah will share their visual art, which recently centered on the symbolism and resonances of the spiral, through multimedia explorations of their own experience with ‘spiraling’ mentally. Spirals, amongst other art practices, serve as their research into spaces of possibility at intersections of healing and liberation.
Register in advance via Eventbrite to join. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join.
This event is open to artists, creative writers, people with mental health difference, disability and social justice communities, social workers, therapists, mental health professionals, students, creative writing and art departments, psychology and social work departments, and the general public.
Donations
IDHA is a small organization that strives to meet the accessibility needs of our community to the best of our ability. Our events are by tiered suggested donation to ensure we can provide closed captions on our events and other programs, though we strive to never turn anyone away. The suggested donation for this event is $10, and we appreciate donations of any size for those who have capacity to give.
Access
ASL interpretation and automated closed captioning will be provided. The event will be recorded and shared with all registrants. If you have any questions about access, please email us at contact@idha-nyc.org.
Facilitators
Noah Gokul (they/them) is a Queer multidisciplinary artist and educator here to create liberated worlds through art, storytelling, and sound. They grew up in Oakland, CA/unceded Ohlone land, and identify as a trauma survivor with sensitivities to the world around them. They use music and art for meaning-making and the healing of others, integrating these passions into their work as a peer for young adults in a first-episode psychosis program. They have facilitated in a wide variety of settings, at the intersections of anti-oppression, trauma, incarceration, Caribbean ancestry, music, and mental health. Through their incantations they create spaces of radical imagination and possibility.
Kim Wichera (they/them) is a sound artist and activist from Berlin. Kim's artistic practice is dedicated to the mechanisms of social inclusion and exclusion. Informed by years of working in care work and intersectional feminist analysis, Kim draws new lines of connection between historical and contemporary artistic and non-artistic discourses. Through the use of video projections, voice, movement, installations, and sound, Kim opens up insights into worlds of experience and characterizes social exclusions.