Exhibition Review: On The Borderline
'On The Borderline' - An Exhibition of Artwork created by individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
We ended 2017 with a bang, holding a successful Art Exhibition at East Street Arts' temporary gallery space, 'The Spot' from November 24th until December 9th. It was opened by the Mayor of Derby and during the exhibition, we had over 220 visitors.
It was great to see people taking time to look at the artwork and descriptions. Many visitors who attended had a lot of prior knowledge/experience of BPD, but despite this, it’s clear from the feedback we received that the exhibition still greatly increased understanding and decreased stigma.
Visitors’ feedback showed us that:
Over 94% felt that it helped to decrease the stigma attached to BPD
Over 80% said that it either increased or hugely increased their knowledge of BPD
Over 83% said that it either increased or hugely increased their awareness of how it might feel to live with BPD
Over 79% said that it either increased or hugely increased their understanding of the behaviour of individuals with BPD
Over 48% said that it increased their confidence to effectively support someone with BPD
Over 40% said that they rarely attend art exhibitions, but 100% of those people said that after attending ‘On The Borderline’, they would be more likely to attend other art events
Visitors shared that they found the exhibition powerful, inspiring, informative, moving, encouraging and insightful. Many expressed their admiration of the artwork and said that viewing the art helped them to understand loved ones with BPD. Some of the comments we received include:
“I found the exhibition informative, moving and encouraging. I knew a little about BPD before i came, but reading people’s experiences of it and seeing their creative responses has really helped me to understand a bit more about what life can be like. Thank you”.
“This exhibition is truly inspiring”
“I found the artwork exceptional”
“Amazing exhibition giving a true, rare insight into BPD”
“Very powerful and hugely informative”
“I now feel much more sympathetic to those with BPD”.
“It has been very insightful to learn about a range of symptoms and their effect on everyday behaviour, especially as a lot goes unnoticed/ masked”.
Feedback from those with BPD:
The exhibition not only increased awareness and understanding about BPD for the general public, family, friends and professionals. It also had an incredibly positive direct impact for individuals who have a diagnosis of BPD:
“Thank you for a brilliant exhibition that I hope has increased understanding. As someone with BPD, its been helpful to invite friends too so they ‘get me’ a bit more”.
Feedback shows the exhibition enabled a huge 100% of visitors/participants with BPD to:
d Better understand themselves
Feel more understood by others,
Feel accepted and comforted,
Feel less alone.
Feel encouraged/helped knowing that the exhibition is increasing understanding of BPD
Thank you!
We want to say a huge thank you to the wonderful V21 Arts for filming the exhibition in 3D for us! Thanks to their time, patience and impressive expertise, you can browse the exhibition, as it you are right there, from the comfort of your own sofa! So, grab a cuppa, get comfy and have a virtual mooch around it by simply clicking right here.
Despite this event not being a fundraiser, we also had donations adding up to £135.30, which was fantastic! Every penny really does help, as we are a charity with no regular funding, so thank you so much to all who donated!
Most of all we want to thank all those who came along or supported/shared about the exhibition in any way. It was a great success, and we could not have had these fantastic results without all your help!! We hope you enjoyed it, and if you missed it (or want to revisit it), don't forget you can do so by clicking here.
