First Fortnight project, call for participants (posted 7th October 2011)

First Fortnight is an arts-based mental health awareness project who, along with See Change, are organising a 2 week festival of music and visual arts with a focus on ending the stigma surrounding mental health issues. The aim is to get people talking about the things that concern themselves and the people they love. I'm very excited to be involved this year, but I need your help!

I'm producing a series of portraits (it's what I love doing most), which will be exhibited for the duration of the festival; the first two weeks in January 2012. I'm looking for people who've been affected by mental health issues in any way, both directly and indirectly (and lets face it - there are very few of us who haven't been..) to sit for me for an informal portrait. The project will also incorporate short text pieces in the style of the #whatstigma hashtag that's been used on Twitter with such great success. I want to produce a wall of images and text, for really strong visual impact and to act as a starting point for conversation, so I need as many people as possible! So if you've been affected personally, or someone in your family, or a friend, please email me as soon as you can, so I can take your picture :)