Solent University Alumna Creates Mental Health Bench
As part of the BENCH Project between Southampton’s Business Improvement District, GO! Southampton and Solent University’s Showcase Gallery, 16 benches have been transformed into works of art and installed along Above Bar Street.
Local creatives, including Solent’s alumna Jojo Lewes, have collaborated to create new public artworks to shift perceptions reinventing the ‘humble bench as a free social resource that enables people to be outside longer, supporting their physical and mental health and importantly to be part of the flux of city living’.
Jojo interpreted this project to highlight the support available to Southampton’s residents from the leading mental health charity, Solent Mind. The bench features Solent Mind’s Wellbeing Helpline number, alongside the words ‘Take a minute, take a breath, call a friend’.