By SUSAN JONES
It’s a question we ask or answer several times a day — “How are you?” And most of the time the response is some variation on “I’m fine.”
Since 2019, artists Carrie Breschi and Maureen Joyce have been helping people throughout Pennsylvania look deeper behind the masks they present to the world through the “I’m fine.” project.
The two brought their workshops to Pitt in January and February, where participants created ceramic masks that represent the ones we wear “to portray, hide or minimize emotions and mental health challenges.”
The masks created by Pitt faculty, staff and students, along with photos of the creators with their masks shot by photographer Ariel Skovera, are on display in the “I’m Fine @ Pitt” exhibit through May 19 on the third floor of Hillman Library. The masks, which are some of the 1,300 created so far, will become 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, according to Erik Schuckers, programming and communications manager at Pitt’s Center for Creativity, which hosted the workshops in the Understory space in the basement of the Cathedral of Learning.
There also will be exhibits this spring and summer of masks created at other Pittsburgh workshops, including at the Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media in Shadyside and Standard Ceramic Supply in Carnegie.
“This experience was fun, surprising, and made me reflect on some of my deeper thoughts, which is not what I was expecting going into (it),” said Anchal Malik, assistant professor in the Department of Dental Public Health, who also convinced a friend to participate. “Both Carrie and Maureen, the co-curators of the ‘I’m Fine.’ project, are so incredibly warm and inviting. The best part about this experience was the process itself and the unpredictability as you just go with the flow.”
Her mask has its eyes closed “as it represents that moment of peace within yourself.” It also has a hummingbird, an OM sign and two question marks for ears. She said the hummingbird represents endurance and OM represents her belief in a higher entity that gives us hope in life. “I used question marks in lieu of ears as it represents all the information and noise we hear everyday and it's up to us on how we process that information and absorb some of it and make it part of us or not. My mask is a representation of me being at peace within myself.”
Malik got involved in the project after writing a proposal for the Year of Emotional Well-being initiative, and she said she wanted to “explore the University-supported events that promote mental health awareness, as I truly believe in the importance of this and also possibly explore an opportunity to collaborate and bring this experience to the School of Dental Medicine and share it with my colleagues, staff and students.”
Felicia Snead, a radiation oncologist at Hillman Cancer Center and a clinical associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, said one of the reasons she got involved was her interest in art in medicine. She said this is a fairly recent discipline that is being implemented at various places throughout the country, but hasn’t really caught on in Pittsburgh yet. Art in medicine is aimed at facilitating art experiences in health care settings to enhance the experience and improve well being and resilience for patients, doctors and staff.
The ”I’m fine.” project helped improve her own well-being, Snead said, and helped her stretch artistically. Her background is as a singer, but she’s always been interested in visual arts.
“The theme was very close to me, because, like one of the facilitators at the program, I did lose a son to .. depression-related suicide,” Snead said. The “I’m fine.” project is dedicated to Maureen and Kevin Joyce’s son, Patrick, who took his life in 2018 after struggling with mental illness.
Snead said her mask “represents how I feel like I'm being portrayed in the world and how I actually think of myself.” Several symbols on her mask have significance and meaning.
“It’s brown like me. There are stars in my eyes — despite how I feel sometimes, I try to be uplifted,” she said. The 17 on the forehead represents both of her sons, whose birthdays are on the 17th. “They’re always in my thoughts. And the crown is how I think of myself. Despite maybe what the world may think of me, I think of myself as a queen, and I try to conduct myself as such. And there's a cross in my crown too, because I am God's child.”
With her interest in art in medicine, Snead said she’d love to collaborate on an art event with the “I’m fine.” organizers.
“One thing I had in mind, I treat a lot of head and neck cancer, and when the patients receive their radiation therapy, we have to make an immobilization mask for them,” she said. “That oftentimes is something that can cause a lot of distress, a reminder of this very, very unpleasant experience. But I've seen patients use that afterward and decorate it with different things and maybe use that as a template to create a mask for patients.”
Snead also had praise for the Center for Creativity. “We have some good resources as far as art and creativity at the Center for Creativity. And it was nice to see the space and the resources being used in this manner. I would love to see other projects like this and not just something special every now and then — have something ongoing and regular.”
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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