Meet The Movement Against Suicide: Seven's Story

When artist Seven decided to support CALM, she wanted to do it in a creative way. We spoke to her to hear how synesthesia adds a new dimension to her paintings and why she used her project as a way to help her mates talk about their mental wellbeing.

It all started when Seven decided to shave her head to help us be there for anyone struggling. Struck by inspiration, she decided to make paintbrushes from the hair she’d chopped. But the artist’s innovation didn’t stop there.

Seven used the project as a chance to connect and check in with her mates about how they were feeling. Interviewing them about their experiences with mental wellbeing, she painted seven portraits, which were sold at silent auction, with profits heading to CALM:

“The whole point was to celebrate my friends and acknowledge their experiences with mental health. I have so many friends who have struggled, which is how I found out about CALM. I interviewed them about it and then created their portraits from the answers they gave me.”

Art can be great for your head, but it can also help to connect people through shared experiences. Chatting to her friends before painting them gave Seven a deeper understanding of some of the stigmas people sometimes face when talking about their mental health:

“I interviewed one of my exes and he spoke about how he never talked about his feelings as a kid. The project highlighted how important mental health charities are, because they give people somewhere to turn when they’re struggling. A lot of the people I spoke to found it difficult to talk and felt like they were working through things on their own.”

Seven wants to normalise talking about this stuff and knows the important role services like CALM’s play in helping people chat about what’s on their mind:

“It can feel really formal and daunting to seek help, but CALM normalises things."

"Without those services and the support, mental health sinks back into the corner again, but our mental wellbeing is serious and something a lot of people struggle with.”

Seven has synesthesia, a neurological trait which merges senses that aren’t normally connected. It means people might taste colours or visualise sounds. She struggled to make sense of her synesthesia growing up, but when Seven realised other people experienced it, she started using her senses to shape her art:

“Since I can remember, I’ve always visualised my feelings and when I was a child if I had a stomach ache, I would describe how it looked, not how it felt. I thought I was just weird, but when I discovered I had synesthesia it made sense. It made me appreciate it more. I love words and sentences and often when I hear someone say something, I try to paint how it would look.”

Painting has helped Seven to process difficult things, and the trait which made her feel different growing up is something she channels into creating fluid and emotional pieces of art:

“Through art, you can express yourself without talking. Sometimes if you’re struggling, it’s hard to put things into words when people ask how you feel. But with painting, or things like music, you can put your feelings out there exactly as they are and people can see your thoughts on canvas or hear them in a song.”

A big part of Seven’s project was to encourage her mates to talk, something she knows doesn’t come easy for a lot of them. She told us how listening was important, but sometimes being open and honest yourself can encourage them to do the same:

“Sitting and listening really helps, but it’s also about being open and honest with someone. It makes it easier because it invites them to talk without feeling like a burden. It’s about showing someone you trust them and that they can trust you.”

Through her fantastic project, Seven’s raised almost two thousand pounds to help fund life-saving services. Join us and take action for CALM, or if you need support, we’re here.