Corona in the City

Framer Framed has been working intensively with i-Psy Arts since 2020. i-psy Arts is a program for patients of intercultural psychiatry (i-psy) in Amsterdam. i-psy is an organization that falls under the policy of the GGZ institution Parnassia Groep. The organization focuses on patients with a migration background and is specialized in intercultural psychiatry. the collaboration consists of an Open Atelier. During the first lockdown, this collaboration took shape in online workshops, such as the Stay Strong Photo Series.

During the corona crisis, the Parnassia Group indicated that it wanted to stop specialist mental health care programs with the aim of reducing costs and making treatments cheaper. This has major consequences, especially for patients who are still under treatment and suddenly had to stop their treatment. This happened at a time that is in any case very difficult for people with psychological problems. It was precisely during this difficult time that an open studio proved to be of crucial importance and Framer Framed decided to make the exhibition space available on Mondays from September 2020 for the Open Atelier.

The concept of an Open Atelier was inspired by the design of “Studio Upstairs” in London. Suzanne Delshadian, the founder and coordinator of i-psy Arts, was inspired by the approach: not only a treatment center that provides art as an introspective leisure activity, but a place where people experience that they can be public, can develop and change. Accompanied by artists, visual therapists, psychotherapists and people from the arts field. The meetings on Monday are supervised by Laura van den Dungen and Betul Ellialtioglu (Framer Framed).

Participants in the Open Atelier can learn new creative techniques and try them out. The created art object can be used to reflect, gain new insights and effect changes. Despite the fact that the participants each have a different cultural background and different ages, the aim will be to create a group in which solidarity and equality are central. The open studio brings the opportunity to encourage participants to show their art to the public by displaying the work. The created art and thus also the artist is taken seriously.

Photo credit: Betul Ellialtioglu

by Betul Ellialtioglu