Exit the received ideas around Tchaikovsky, Van Gogh, Nelligan, Sylvia Plath, Amy Winehouse and the others: no, it is not necessary to suffer to create. Let it be said, art does not necessarily draw its source from suffering. Conversely, creativity can contribute to well-being in general, and to mental health in particular.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
This is what emerges from a conference presented these days at the Society for Technological Arts (SAT), which questions these misunderstood (overused?) links between creation and mental health. Baptized “In balance”, the conference, which is intended to be immersive, brings together two well-known personalities to the public to explore this existential subject: the singer Florence K, who is currently doing a doctorate in psychology, as well as the director and youtuber Émile Roy (from the first edition of Oasis immersion, at the Palais des Congrès), to whom we owe several projects on anxiety, including a medium-length film (Anxiety at 21e century). It is to the organization Relief (NPO offering mental health services) that we owe the initiative to bring them together.
“Mental health doesn’t have to be sexy or glamorous, unfortunately. Doing this in the SAT dome makes it more alive. […] This creates a bubble around us, we feel in a different universe! “, launched Florence K, on the sidelines of the rehearsal, presented earlier this week, where she delivered a testimony that was both transparent and convincing (special mention to her brief a cappella singing to prove to us the soothing and confederating effect of the music).
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
The presentation begins with a short meditation workshop, signed Tripura.
Lasting two hours, the presentation begins with a short meditation workshop, well-being requires. Spectators, comfortably seated in beanbags, are invited to do a few short breathing exercises, supervised by a coach virtual, projected into the dome.
Note: here, however, the immersive part of the experience ends, the main presentation being subsequently rather conventional in its form. This does not detract from its relevance, it should be said.
A myth to debunk
The conference then alternates between historical reviews, psychological explanations and personal testimonies. Speaking of testimonials, Florence K gets the ball rolling, recalling her particular journey: from her birth in a family of artists (she learned to read notes before the alphabet) to her diagnosis of bipolarity, passing through her “hole” in inside, his highs, his lows, “channeled” into music, his career, then his suicidal thoughts, and finally his hospitalization. “I decided to do everything not to relapse, and that’s why I studied psychology…”
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Florence K, singer, researcher and lecturer
It is not because we suffer that we create nor because we create that we suffer!
Florence K, artist, researcher and lecturer
This famous myth (which would go back to Plato), certainly deconstructed by science for several years (mental health being a matter of multifactorial elements, called “biopsychosocial”, insists Florence K here), still has a hard life. “And that’s a big problem in the clinic, because a lot of artists don’t want treatment, because they’re afraid of losing their creative flame! We would have liked to hear him go deeper into his remarks, but the main point remains: “It is important to seek help! “, she summarizes.
As for Émile Roy, in his famous energetic tone (his YouTube channel has more than 160,000 subscribers), he chose to “reverse” the problem, in search of solutions. “When you suffer, one of the answers is to create”, he says, examples, poems and other quotations in support. “Because that’s also the legacy of anxiety, it comes with the need to express yourself! And this expression does the most good. Florence K knows something about it, she is setting up a choir these days with people struggling with psychotic disorders. “And there are links that are created that are quite simply good! »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Émile Roy, director and youtuber
Moral ? “Art is an outlet that allows you to express what you can’t express otherwise,” concludes Émile Roy. We have to find a way to bring out what we drag around with us and which weighs us down…” In an interview, the young man goes on to say: “I see creation as a remedy for suffering. This is what emerges from my research, from my meetings with psychologists. It comes back a lot. Art, to express what cannot be expressed otherwise. […] We are not helpless! »
“In Balance” is presented in the dome of the SAT on November 12 and 13, as well as December 10 and 11.