I'm Fine @ Pitt

        

 

This semester, the Center for Creativity partnered with the Year of Emotional Well-Being to bring the I'm fine. project to Pitt. This statewide community initiative is dedicated to sculpting mental health awareness, conversations, and support through art.

Initiated by co-curators Carrie Breschi and Maureen Joyce in 2019, I’m fine. consists of a series of workshops where participants create ceramic masks that represent the ones we wear to portray, hide, or minimize emotions and mental health challenges. The workshops culminate with a series of public art installations and gallery exhibits in each community. I’m fine. participants have made over 1,300 masks so far.

At workshops at C4C: The Understory in January and February, Pitt students, faculty, and staff created masks to tell their stories. Participants were then invited to sit for a session with photographer Ariel Skovera. The result is an affecting mixed-media installation including a selection of the ceramic masks themselves, photos, and text from some of the creators' stories.

Following the campus exhibition, masks will reside with the I'm fine. curators to be displayed as part of a larger installation scheduled for 2024. The photos will become part of a permanent gallery in the new Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

I'm Fine @ Pitt will run through May 19 on the third floor of Hillman Library.