Students address mental health with Kalopsi(ART)

To celebrate May as Mental Health Awareness Month, Vestavia Hills students are sharing their interpretation of mental health through an inaugural community art event: Kalopsi(ART).

“They were able to talk about it and reflect about it and have the conversation with each other [on mental health], which is not typical conversations I would normally have with them,” said Timarie Fisk, Vestavia Hills High School’s photography teacher. “When you open a door and allow students to have a conversation about something, it allows students to be vulnerable and make connections.”

Kalopsi(ART) takes place at Avondale Brewing Company on Thursday, May 2, at 6 p.m. and showcases high school student artwork from Vestavia, Mountain Brook and Homewood. The name of the event was chosen from the term “kalopsia,” which is derived from the Greek language and translates to “the delusion of things being more beautiful than they are.” 

Shareta Collins, marketing director at Impact Family Counseling, said the name speaks to the fact that mental health can be “an elusive illness,” and while someone may appear to be fine on the outside, there may be a very different story on the inside.

“In light of this, mental health can be described as a ‘kalopsia’ force. We thought to put a positive spin on it and that’s how we came up with it,” she said.

Collins said the purpose of the event is to bring awareness to mental health and also help Impact Family Counseling continue to provide an affordable service to the community by raising funds. 

Impact Family Counseling is a nonprofit agency that offers outpatient counseling through a sliding pay scale for individuals and families. Through their Successful Schools program, Collins said they go into the schools and provide behavior aid and counseling. They also provide anger management classes, healthy relationship workshops and other seminars for students and families. 

“As a way to bridge the gap [between students and Impact Family Counseling], we decided to ask some of the art students to create this artwork by just showing us what they thought about mental health. To highlight their creations, we thought it would be a great idea to bring the Birmingham community into it,” Collins said. 

Fisk said part of the reason she wanted to make sure to get involved with the art show is because of the help that Impact Family Counseling has had in both the Vestavia community and the school system.

“Impact Counseling has provided a really great service to our community. … They’ve helped several students and their families from the community, as well, and it’s always good to help people who are helping my kids,” Fisk said.

Collins said the “one-of-a-kind” art pieces include everything from traditional painting, sculptures, photographs and digital media. Each student also is sharing a statement to go with their piece, she added, to further explain their interpretation. Fisk said she is the only teacher from VHHS submitting her students’ work, which will be in the form of digital photography prints. 

When she first presented them with the opportunity, she said she gave students time to research three different types of mental health issues so that they could “break down the stereotypical assumptions,” learn more factual information and better understand the issues on a deeper, more empathetic level. 

“A lot of times we like to classify things we think we know when we might not really know about it, and so I think that is really good for them, as well, because they had to dig deep,” Fisk said.

She said she then allowed students to choose one mental health issue they researched that they wanted to portray through photography. They could portray what it is like or might be like to struggle with mental illness or they could show ways to combat it, since for many it might be a personal and difficult matter to face, she said. 

“Because a lot of kids are dealing with a lot of different things, … sometimes it’s better, easier for them to look at things that help them, like how they manage their mental health,” Fisk said. “So some explore that aspect, and some wanted to kind of document and portray it for what it is, so not necessarily personal, but just their take on it.”

Some of the images show the good side and the ways people deal with it, Fisk said, and some “show the darker side.” Either way, she added, it was their choice on how they wanted to communicate it. 

One of the works, titled “Breathe,” is by digital photography student Jesse Ponder, who depicted a gray photo with raindrops around some of the edges, as well the top of a tree in the background.

“A photo doesn’t have to show happiness to make you forget about why you have PTSD. A photo is made to stimulate the nerves in your body to make you feel feelings of happiness but also allow you to stay calm,” Ponder said. 

Ponder also described clearing the mind, breathing and learning to not focus on all the things that make one overthink. Another student, Indira Singh, portrayed a mostly dark, black photo with a hand holding a match with the end lit in flame.

“My photo is a metaphor for hope. The flame represents the last glimmer of hope in a surrounding darkness. Eventually the light will go out if it doesn’t receive any more fuel,” Singh said. 

Fisk said some representations were more literal like prescription drugs or images of alcohol, while others were more abstract, like a boy under water pictured with his mouth open or a face wrapped in plastic wrap. 

Fisk said she loved that the assignment allowed an open and honest conversation to start about mental health with her students. 

“When you hear the words mental health, a lot of times it’s not talked about or it’s sometimes hushed,” Collins said. “I think creating that conversation with some of the students at an earlier age and creating that dialogue to have a discussion of what mental health is will essentially make it easier for them to have the conversation if they continue to grow older.”

Community members are invited to purchase a $25 ticket and take a look at the various interpretations. 

At the end of the night, they can further participate and raise funds for Impact Family Counseling by purchasing the art work through the silent auction. The ticket includes food catered by Hattie B’s Hot Chicken. 

To purchase tickets or learn more about Impact Family Counseling, go to impactal.org.