‘Max and Bella and friends’ is a ‘in process/progress’ new art installation by Donna Turtle Sarten & Bernie Harfleet. This work looks at mental health with particular focus on depression and anxiety disorders in New Zealand.

In the 2012/13 New Zealand Health Survey, one in six New Zealand adults (16%, or an estimated 582,000 adults) had been diagnosed with a common mental disorder at some time in their lives (including depression, bipolar disorder and/or anxiety disorder).

Six percent of New Zealand adults, or more than 200,000 adults, experienced psychological distress in the last four weeks. People experiencing psychological distress are highly likely to have an anxiety or depressive disorder.

Health and support agencies agree that talking about mental health and asking for, or offering help are positive ways forward. ‘Bella and Max and friends’ gives a visual experience to the viewer of a part of the community that is not talked about enough.

This work will be made up of 10,000 pinwheels, five percent of New Zealand adults that have experienced psychological distress in the last month.
The pinwheel/windmill has been used as it has a figurative quality. It has times of stillness and of kinetic movement serving as an analogy for the mind.

Donna and Bernie are planning to include the community in the making of the installation and are currently seeking funding to complete their vision.

Facebook page: Max and Bella and friends

National helplines

Lifeline – 0800 543 354 or (09) 5222 999 within Auckland

Suicide Crisis Helpline – 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)

Healthline – 0800 611 116

Samaritans – 0800 726 666

Chinese Lifeline – 0800 888 880 (for people who speak Mandarin or Cantonese)

Depression-specific helplines

Depression Helpline – 0800 111 757 (to talk to a trained counsellor about how you are feeling or to ask any questions)

www.depression.org.nz – includes The Journal online help service

SPARX.org.nz – online e-therapy tool provided by the University of Auckland that helps young people learn skills to deal with feeling down, depressed or stressed

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‘Coffee & a Blanket’ is an interactive community art installation by Bernie Harfleet & Donna Turtle Sarten, and part of WELLINGTON PARK(ING) DAY 9th MARCH 8am to 6pm

Community members are encouraged through encounter and social media to visit the site and donate coffee (dry goods) and blankets for ‘Soup kitchen Wellington’.

Visitors to the site will be photographed with their donation, and/or a sign they have written, referencing those held by those who ask for support in the streets of NZ. Image’s would be posted on a dedicated Facebook and Instagram page as an‘online’ exhibition.

All coffee and blankets will be given to Soup Kitchen Wellington, who is short of these resources.

Park(ing) Day Wellington

PARKing Day is an annual global event where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public ‘parks’. This year is our second event timed to coincide with National Walk to Work Day

Our park Coffee and a Blanket will be on Bunny Street opposite the Wellington Railway Station outside the Pharmacy and just down from McDonalds

You may have seen our previous work on the Wellington waterfront that was apart of the Lux Light Festivel

As we live out of Wellington, we are looking for help from students/people to hold a collection at their school, work or just pop down on the day with a bag of coffee or 2 or a blanket donation.

If anyone would like to be part of this community event you can contact us via our Facebook page or e-mail badwakk @ xtra.co.nz

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Give a Kid a Blanket is an Art Project, in response to the cold and damp housing issues. West Auckland artists Bernie Harfleet and Donna Turtle Sarten will be collecting blankets and giving them away to kids to keep warm.

The aim is to collect as many blankets as we can and to give them out to kids who are cold.

Along the way we will be photographing the people that donate a blanket (this is optional).

Photographs will be used in a photography exhibition.

If you would like to be a part of this project, please e-mail us at badwakk@xtra.co.nz or private message us via Facebook. Or leave a message on Give a Kid a Blanket and we will contact you.

Also if you have a blanket that you think is bit tatty or old, we are going to collect these too and give to a dog rescue and a cat rescue.

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Christchurch Stands Tall exhibition

A collaboration with Bernie Harfleet.

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Collaboration with Bernie Harfleet

Link: Facebook

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