HEADSPACE in Fremantle has launched a new project to help young artists showcase their work.

Pheobe Ho is a volunteer for the not-for-profit group helping young people with mental health issues, and she will exhibit a series of pieces at Headspace’s Pakenham Street offices, reflecting her recovery from eating disorders.

The mixed-media, abstract artworks are “not van Gogh” she laughs, but emerged when she got into “art journalling” when in hospital admissions two years ago.

• Pheobe Ho will have her artwork displayed at Headspace’s Fremantle office for three months. Photo 
by 
Alice 
Angeloni

“I was born in Singapore,” she says. “Where I come from it’s quite a conservative culture in terms of mental health, it’s a very taboo topic.”

She says art journalling helped her communicate the process of recovery with her family and friends.

“The pieces reflect the ups and downs of my journey and I guess coming out the other end, being a lot more resilient, a lot stronger.

“The important thing is progress; not perfection. It’s something my clinician would always say.

“You don’t aim to be completely recovered. You don’t aim to be 100 per cent; you just aim to chip away at it, a bit each day.

“Every time you have a lapse, it gives you another opportunity to practice the skills you’ve learnt in therapy.”

Headspace’s program is open to anyone aged 12-25, so if you know a creative person who might be interested, get in touch with them.

by ALICE ANGELONI