Abstract activism and mental health vandalism with Ben Wakeling

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 41!

My guest this week is Ben Wakeling!

Ben Wakeling is a full-time artist who works for the NHS, delivering his own expressive arts program for NHS mental health secure units across London. 

He also runs The Outsider Gallery, London's first and innovative art gallery, exhibiting original works from NHS trusts in Forensic, CAMHS, secure units, care settings and the excluded.

Ben’s work is fascinating and very hard to describe or put in a box.  If you Google him, you will see lots of descriptive words like innovative, radical or unorthodox and that alone should tell you that this is a fascinating conversation!

Ben and I chat about his work in the NHS and how he uses art and creativity to connect with patients on secure wards.

We chat about his gallery and how he started it and we talk about mental health graffiti.

It was incredible to hear about Ben’s work and how he connects with excluded or marginalised patients within the NHS.  To hear him describe how he integrates himself on to wards and connects with the people on them is fascinating!

It’s a wonderful conversation and it is wonderful to know that someone like Ben is out there doing what he does in the mental health space.

You can find out more about Ben on his website benwakeling.wixsite.com Home | Mysite (wixsite.com)

You can follow The Outsider Gallery on social media @outsidergallerylondon

and you can read a great article about him here: This gallery shows art exclusively by mental health patients | Dazed (dazeddigital.com)

You can connect with me on all social platforms @propermentalpodcast or via the website www.propermentalpodcast.com.

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Thanks for listening!  Enjoy!