Dianne Hawkridge, Wellways regional manager, and Tracy Puklowski, Queen Victoria Museum director, at the Minds Do Matter exhibition. Picture: Frances Vinall.

Frances Vinall, Queen Victoria Museum and Wellways open Minds Do Matter, The Examiner, 5 October 2018

Museum-goers will have the opportunity to see the world through another’s eyes with the Minds Do Matter: Do you see what I see? exhibition.

Queen Victoria Museum, Inveresk, is displaying works from people with a mental illness, as well as from carers portraying how they see their loved ones.

This is the 10th year of the Minds Do Matter exhibition and the third at QVMAG, with over 80 works on show.

It’s also the first exhibition opened by new QVMAG director Tracy Puklowski.

“I believe strongly that museums are of and for their communities, so this is the perfect starting point for me in this role,” she said.

“People are going to have an opportunity to really get an insight into different people’s experiences, and to reflect on it themselves. It’s a really, really engaging show so I think people will be spending quite a lot of time with the artworks.”

The exhibition is jointly organised by community mental health service Wellways, and regional manager Dianne Hawkridge said that creating the works had a therapeutic effect on the artists.

“Often people will speak about finding peace and calm through doing the work: they might be having an experience or a day that’s not going so well for them, but engaging with their artwork will bring about a sense of calm,” she said.

“It’s a way of expressing themselves when finding narrative words is difficult.