{"id":111267,"date":"2025-09-01T06:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T06:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/111267\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T06:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T06:11:12","slug":"deal-artist-opens-project-aimed-at-reducing-mental-health-stigma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/111267\/","title":{"rendered":"Deal artist opens project aimed at reducing mental health stigma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hsin-Yi LoBBC News, South East and<\/p>\n

Jo BurnBBC News, South East, Deal<\/p>\n

\"BBC\/JoBBC\/Jo Burn<\/p>\n

Deidre Kashdan has cared for her son for more than 27 years<\/p>\n

An art installation aimed at reducing stigma around mental health is coming to a Kent library.<\/p>\n

The Missing Project, by artist Deirdre Kashdan, is coming to Deal Library to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September.<\/p>\n

Ms Kashdan, who lives in Deal, said she had been supporting her son with an enduring mental illness for more than 27 years.<\/p>\n

“He was 19 when he was taken to hospital. There was an enormous sense of grief because when he came out of hospital, he wasn’t the same person,” she said.<\/p>\n

“For most of the time, I’ve been very private about my story. But I am 73 now, and I thought it was important to talk about it.”<\/p>\n

She said she was inspired to create the project when she stumbled across a Victorian era trend known as hidden mother photography.<\/p>\n

Young children were photographed with someone, usually their mother, who was hidden in the photograph, usually behind curtains or cloaks.<\/p>\n

Ms Kashdan said she felt these images resonated with her, who felt her own presence was largely hidden while supporting her son.<\/p>\n

\"BBC\/JoBBC\/Jo Burn<\/p>\n

Deirdre Kashdan said she hoped the project would encourage people to talk about mental health<\/p>\n

The artist said she had contacted other local women who shared their experiences, with more than 200 part of the project.<\/p>\n

“The images displayed in the library are very poignant, but they also depict strength, endurance, and love,” she added.<\/p>\n

“Conversations around enduring mental illness need to be normalised and there shouldn’t be stigma. Carers should be celebrated not hidden away.”<\/p>\n

Paul Webb, Kent County Council cabinet member for community and regulatory services, said art was a “powerful way to open up conversations”.<\/p>\n

“I hope people will take the time to visit the exhibition which has such an important message around mental health,” he added.<\/p>\n

The exhibition will be open until 15 September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hsin-Yi LoBBC News, South East and Jo BurnBBC News, South East, Deal BBC\/Jo Burn Deidre Kashdan has cared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-111267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}