Mairi Hunt will be showcasing her work at the Upper Walker Street Gallery next month. 48632
By Lia Bichel
EVERY time Endeavour Hills resident Mairi Hunt feels like having a drink, she picks up her pencils instead.
For almost a decade, the former art teacher and recovering alcoholic has been participating in art therapy sessions at the Drug and Alcohol unit, St John of God Pinelodge Clinic, in Dandenong. She will be one of many to showcase her work at the Inner Self exhibition at Upper Walker Street Gallery next month.
Ms Hunt said she was always artistic but traded in her passion for drinking many years ago.
“I had abandoned art because I preferred to drink,” she said.
“I drank for 15 years, but art therapy was a way of helping me to stop. I will never go back to drinking like I once did.”
She said she felt great when she began drawing in her first art therapy session.
“I was able to express myself. I had really missed it,” she said.
“I feel satisfied and a sense of pride when my work is finished, but I think it can always get better.”
Ms Hunt has completed about 40 pieces of artwork, and hopes to one day sell her work or own her own business.
Her artwork entitled ‘fighting my demons’ will be on display next to a number of other patients’ artworks.
This is the first exhibition that Pinelodge Clinic has commissioned.
Pinelodge Clinic CEO Graham Cadd said art therapy had been an essential part of the comprehensive rehabilitation program for many years.
“It acts as a balance to clinical therapy and an outlet for those who find they can express themselves better in a non-verbal way,” Mr Cadd said.
Art therapist and exhibition organiser Daphna Dishi said the sessions were very important to the patients’ recovery process and said it was a great way for them to express themselves.
“We thought the time was right to put these pieces on public display – not only to showcase the wonderful work of our clients but to illustrate that drug and alcohol dependency can and does affect people from all walks of life,” she said.
“It is immensely brave of our exhibitors to openly share their artwork and I hope they find it a cathartic experience.”
Drugs and alcohol co-ordinator Manal Darwish agreed.
“It is a very important component of the drug and alcohol recovery,” she said.
Pinelodge Clinic and the exhibiting artists will hold a grand opening at the gallery in Dandenong on Wednesday 30 June, starting at 5.30pm. The exhibition will be on display from 1 to 28 July.
