Love & Fear Art Exhibition
Thursday 15th August 2019 6:00 PM
Doongalik Studios Art Gallery will open an exhibition featuring Bahamian artist Dyah Neilson on Thursday, August 15th, 2019 from 6 - 9 pm. Her debut solo show, Love & Fear will feature mostly paintings depicting the battle with anxiety and depression, as well as the love for self that is found in learning to accept mental and emotional struggle and the fight to overcome it.
Dyah was born and raised in The Bahamas and has always had a love of drawing and painting. In high school she attended classes taught by Sonia Isaacs and later Kim Smith, and received multiple awards for her artwork. In 2018, she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at York University in Toronto, Ontario. Since returning home, she has participated in group exhibitions at Doongalik, The Current, and the Chan Pratt Foundation. Going forward, Dyah hopes to make a positive impact through her work as well as finding ways to give back to the Bahamian community.
Through the Love & Fear exhibition, Dyah aims to encourage and expand the conversation about mental health, and remove the stigma surrounding it here in The Bahamas.
Not wanting to take the traditional route of portraying mental illness as a dark and scary situation, Dyah has made her work approachable and inviting, portraying the struggle with mental illness in a positive way. In doing this, she shows that any issue we may have can be worked through and it does not have to be a scary process. We can learn to love ourselves despite any darkness we might feel.
Love & Fear shows the silent and often unseen fight between the fear of simply living life and being able to embrace it by finding love for yourself and your situation.