Visible/Invisible Opening Reception

Friday | January 24 | 5:00-7:00pm
Public Launch | 119 E 3rd St

Please join Public Launch for the opening reception for Visible/Invisible: Landscapes of Mental Illness by Joy Davis Ripley. The exhibition is a community project highlighting Winonans who want to talk about their experiences with mental illness. The project combines portraits and narratives to create a new way of talking about mental illness and its devastating impact on many of the lives in our community.

The portraits feature people in settings that help them understand or deal with their mental illness in some way, and their narratives highlight their experiences with mental illness. In this way, the exhibition hopes to make what is very common but often invisible more visible. It is an attempt to help create space for sustained discussions that will address mental health concerns in our community.

While some participants in the exhibition address trauma and traumatizing events, many of them also discuss strategies of resilience that they’ve developed to help them live more fulfilling lives. Viewers should be aware that the exhibition contains accounts and representations of trauma that may be triggering.

The exhibition will run through Feb. 21st at Public Launch and will reopen on Feb. 24 in the lobby of the Page Theatre at St. Mary’s. It will remain there until April 3rd.

This project is funded by a Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council Emerging Artist grant.

Joy Davis Ripley and Public Launch are members of the River Arts Alliance. To learn more about the benefits of membership, please visit: riverartsalliance.org/JOIN.