Hackney painter: art saved my life

Tagged as: "core arts" "gary molloy" "cuts" art

An artist from London has been talking to London360 about how art has given him a purpose in life after suffering for years with bipolar disorder.

Gary Molloy, who volunteers for Core Arts - a Hackney-based charity that uses the arts to help people with mental health issues - credits finding painting and sculpture with keeping him out of hospital for the past twelve years.

But with severe cuts to The Government’s arts budget, Gary is worried others in a similar position won’t be able to get the help he did.

“Cutting the arts doesn’t just affect people’s enjoyment of looking at art in galleries; by taking away an outsource for creativity for charities that use arts, it’s going to put pressure on other services,” he said.

Gary discovered Core Arts in 1999, after a long period of suffering from bipolar disorder and spending various spells in hospital.

“I’d been ill for years before I found the centre. Ever since I arrived they’ve been so supportive and enabled me to develop as an artist, working across different mediums such as oils and watercolours as well as sculpture.

“Without them I think I’d still be in and out of hospital, I was doing things I didn’t like doing, once I found art it started to take up more and more of my time – structure is very important for people with bipolar so I found that very helpful.

“There’s many people who are the same as me, now they’ve found what they want to do, whether it be through art or music, don’t go back into hospital.”

Gary believes that art offers more than just entertainment for a large amount of people in London and across the country.

“For certain people it’s just some fun, for others it’s part of their wellbeing; when we talk about operating out of the right side of the brain, the creative side, it can be very powerful.

“Finding creativity through art was like an awakening for me, I realised this was something I was supposed to do. It’s my life now and it keeps me healthy.

“Having the opportunity to be creative on a daily basis takes care of the depression.

“I’m not sure how Core Arts will be affected by cuts, but there’s a sense that will need to look at other ways to bring in funding, there are challenges ahead.

You can hear more about Gary’s story and find out about how art is helping disadvantaged people across London in Show 4 of London360, on air on Mondays, Thursdays (12am, 7am, 12pm, 7pm) and Sundays (12am, 12pm) until 2nd January (Sky 539, Virgin 233, Freeview 87) and online on the Community Channel’s YouTube channel.

Date added: Dec 28, 2011 at 00:00 by Tom Whiter

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