The brief

Make a montage or collage with a political message.  Your subject matter could be a current issue or something you feel strongly about, such as animal rights, the treatment of elderly people in hospitals or images of women in the media.

Mental Health

What causes mental health problems?  There can be a wide range of causes, and different people may be more deeply affected by certain things than others, but here are a few causes that could result in a period of poor mental health.

• Childhood abuse, trauma, or neglect
• Social isolation (loneliness)
• Poverty
• Bereavement (losing someone close to you)
• Severe or long-term stress

(Mind, 2023)

Avoiding the breakdown of the family

I want to focus on the breakdown of the family and the effect it has on young children who eventually grow up and may have mental health issues as a result of an unhappy childhood.  We are not experiencing a World War at the moment, but our society has many cultural distractions that keep parents distracted from being good parents.  This might result in them being emotionally unavailable or even physically unavailable to their children.

Although this is a problem and a cause of mental health issues, I want to approach it from a positive point of view on how good parenting can have a rewarding outcome for both the parents and the children and, ultimately society as a whole. 

I draw a rough visual idea (figure 2) of the concept I want to convey.  As I am working with cut photo images and collage, the finished piece will look nothing like this drawing, but the sketch gives me a starting point.

I used images from all kinds of Magazines and scanned them into Photoshop.  I also used papercuts from cardboard.

As our parents have made sacrifices to nurture and take care of their children, so we should do the same for our children.  Family is the key to a healthy society and can help with mental health.  You can be the first generation to create this legacy.

Works Cited

Mind. (2023, February 7). Mental health problems – an introduction. Retrieved from Mind: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/mental-health-problems-introduction/causes/