La Serenissima: Bacino Navale by Jon Rowland http://www.jonrowlandart.co.uk

I mentioned in a previous post how living colourfully makes me feel mentally and physically brighter, and with this in mind (literally!) I’m currently co-curating an exhibition in Brighton called, ‘It’s A Wonderful Life (or, The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is Not A Train)’ to raise awareness for the charity C.A.L.M.

Also known as Campaign Against Living Miserably, you can watch what C.A.L.M have to say about themselves here:

The Brighton exhibition will be part of a nationwide event to look at a different side of suicide, and we need you lovely lot of any gender to contribute your artistic endeavours for the exhibitions and spread the message about C.A.L.M.’s good work far and wide. As the Wonderful Life mission-statement reads:

“We are going to attempt to take this out of the darkness and into the light. Our aim is to uplift people, not send them spinning downward.

We are not getting caught up in the ‘whys and the wherefores’ of why these people wanted to die, more than for context. What we are interested in, and talking about, first but not foremost, is why they didn’t go through with it…but, even more importantly, what happened afterwards? Where did their lives go after they decided NOT to go through with it?

Now we are in ‘Sliding Doors’ or ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ territory….and this is where the exhibition comes in. Imagine the mementos, pictures, letters, totems, charms or tokens that each represent a persons story. Imagine a picture of a child that never would have been born, or a book that never would have been written, a wedding that never would have happened, or an Oscar, or a BPI gold disc that never would have been won?

Each exhibition will contain these treasures from contributors to the TV documentary, but we need to go deeper, and we need to find the stories from everyday folk across the UK. Now, this is where you might come in.

We are aiming to put on this exhibition in eight cities around the UK, with every quadrant covered. Each city will need local stories, mementos, talismans, to give each exhibition more gravitas and meaning to those who come from the surrounding area.”

Having personally known people who have considered suicide, tried and failed or even ultimately succeeded in committing the act itself, I’m struggling to write anything that doesn’t sound trite in relation to such a serious subject. Thankfully, superstar radio DJ Eddy Temple-Morris, author of the above statement and project head-honcho, has expressed his thoughts beautifully…

“IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (or, The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is Not A Train) – TV Documentary and nationwide exhibition.

This is an important one.

If you’re reading this then chances are you are aware that the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK is the not cancer, or cars, bikes or drugs, it’s the men themselves. Suicide accounts for 12 men every day, and the figures are only getting worse. If it wasn’t for the incredible work of C.A.L.M. (Campaign Against Living Miserably) and their getting through to millions of people last year, then we’d be creeping up towards 15 men a day by now.

If you, like many people I know, have ever struggled to cope, read on. If you’re aware of C.A.L.M. read on. If you’ve been depressed or know somebody that has been, please read on…

With the help of production company, Flock London, and a few key friends and colleagues, I am right now, writing and co-producing a TV documentary, with a nationwide exhibition attached, which will highlight and raise awareness of the suicide issue. On the TV show, I will be talking to some very brave and in many cases, very famous people, who have either tried to commit suicide, or planned it, or at least gave it some very serious thought. We have already had a yes from men and women who are among the coolest people I’ve played on my radio show and we are approaching some household names, even some Hollywood stars, each of whom have almost ended it.

The wonderful Donny Tourette from Towers Of London has offered to curate the London show (in fact this whole idea came from his visiting something called The Museum Of Broken Relationships), the awesome Jon McClure, of Reverend And The Makers, has offered to put this on in Sheffield. There will also be exhibitions in Glasgow, Bristol, Birmingham, Belfast, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff and Brighton.

Timings are fluid at the moment but it could be as soon as February 2017.

Let’s do something that will really resonate, help people, uplift them, even stop people from killing themselves and change some lives in a profound way.”

If you or anyone you know might like to contribute to one of the ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ exhibitions in terms of a piece of art you’ve created, a ‘momento’ you’ve gained, a ‘treasure’ that encapsulates your experience of surviving Depression and/ or suicide, then please email me at colourmeabi@gmail.com

Thank you for listening, and feel free to share this post if you feel it’s appropriate.

La Serenissima: Remo’s Blade by Jon Rowland http://www.jonrowlandart.co.uk/index.html