upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024
Yinka plans to make hundreds of handmade pottery vessels and decorate their surfaces with thoughts and imagery related to her struggles with depression. Individually each vessel will represent a piece of the puzzle, documenting a small portion of their journey. Together the pieces will tell her story, creating a symbolic journal of their experiences battling depression and form a large scale symbolic sculpture that engages the community. Yinka hopes that the sculpture will incite an open dialogue, raising public consciousness about this issue and providing a sense of solidarity to other people dealing with this disease, letting them know that they are not alone in their struggle. In addition to the pottery, she will facilitate an interactive workshop where participants will produce ceramic art within a framework meant to reinforce life lessons especially vital to recovery and healing. To close the exhibition, the pots will be distributed to the audience. She hopes that through this, the witnessing audience will be a means of carrying her story to an even larger audience, disseminating their message throughout the community.