Artists create Art and Poetry on mental health for Inktober '20

Two Indian artists, Faye D’Cruz and Vanora Vaz are creating awareness about mental health while participating in Inktober '20.

Mental Health and talks about it have become important during these hours and rightfully so. The conversation that was once considered taboo has been taken up by people, thanks to the incredible number of Creators and Artists speaking up online. To further the cause, October 10th is celebrated as the Mental Health day. It is a day that encourages people to become more upfront while talking about mental health. And there is no better way of projecting what it means than through art. Two artists Faye D’Cruz and Vanora Vaz have taken up the famous Inktober '20 challenge and are aiming at linking every prompt with mental health hoping to create awareness about the same.

WHAT INSPIRED THIS PROJECT?

Jake Parker created Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has since grown into a worldwide endeavour with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year. This year, Vanora Vaz- 26, and Faye D’Cruz- 25, two artists from Mumbai, India, (one of them an illustrator and the other a writer) together decided to take on the globally popular daily art challenge, with a twist.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT?

Brave conversations around Mental Health Awareness have only just begun over the past few years, and rightly so. In a year like 2020, when tragedy and uncertainty have begun to cloud almost every waking thought, it’s important to acknowledge and understand mental health and the triggers that may cause unrest among community and individuals alike. Through their pieces of digital art and poetic captions on Instagram each day, the duo interprets each Inktober prompt in association with topics that fall under mental health, self-love, and current affairs causing an uproar in the country.

HOW DOES THIS COME ALIVE?

The word ‘wisps’ prompted imagery of smoke from a fire of revolt against rape. The word ‘bulky’ prompted the fight against fat-shaming and visuals for body-positivity online. The word ‘blade’ prompted thoughts about fighting self- sabotaging thoughts and visuals on fighting the battle against suicide. They intend to continue creating these pieces each day of October and you will find them on their Instagram pages.

Check out their Inktober '20 edition:

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𝗜𝗻𝗸𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟭 Prompt: Fish Some nights I’m drowning In my own sea of thoughts And some nights I’m swimming gracefully through them. Tonight, I’m trying to find a middle ground. A middle wave to surf, and come away drenched in contentedness. - @fayology47 I've wanted to do Inktober before I even started doing art, and I would always admire the art I saw on instagram! I decided to do the inktober prompts a little differently. Each inktober prompt will be interpreted with a different mental health topic everyday. And @fayology47 And I will be putting forth our concepts through art and poems. 🌻 I'm so excited for my First Inktober, I need to pace myself right about now!! 😅 . . . . . . . . . . . #inktober #inkillustrations #inktober2020 #inktoberfish #inktoberprompts #inktoberlist #inktoberday1 #indiefolio #inkart #lineart #conceptualart #mentalwellness #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #digitalart #inking #digitalartist #doodles #doodle #minimalism #minimalart #minimalistic #illustration #inktoberchallenge #illustratedart #illustrate #procreate #inktober52 #artistsupport_feature

A post shared by Vanora Vaz (@vangodoodle) on Oct 1, 2020 at 5:41am PDT

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Heavy. The weight I carry is that of your unrealistic expectations That figure on a scale could be equated to the number of people whose eyes look to me to conform to their ideals of beauty. The only thing that’s bulky is the shame you try to inflict on me for the skin that carries my universe of a soul. I am layers of goodness and truth and every stretch mark on me is a sign of my beauty overflowing, overwhelming the world around me. I see my scars and I think of how my body consistently works to protect me. Its sole mission to keep me going. I celebrate my body, I celebrate my skin, And everything it holds within. -Faye D’Cruz Art by @vangodoodle for #Inktober Day 3 prompt- bulky . . . #Inktober #MentalHealthAwareness #BodyPositivity #MentalHealth #Thingsthatmakeyougohmmm #aquotes #wordsofworth #tobevulnerablyhonest #art #writing #poetsofig #writer #poems #wordporn #writersofig #words #instapoet #prose #poets #creativewriting #instapoem #writers #write #writerscommunity #instapoetry #Love #Poetry #Writer #Quote

A post shared by Faye D’Cruz (@fayology47) on Oct 3, 2020 at 6:39am PDT

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𝗜𝗻𝗸𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟮 Official Prompt: Wisp Mental Health Association: Rage Tw: Reference to sexual violence Generations of patriarchy have been pouring fuel into our fire Stoking our flames thinking they have us under control Thinking they get to decide when we rage and when we simmer down Thinking they get to spill water on our warmth, dust on our depth, cover on our cries of protest. Watch as a generation of women ignite flames in their daughters and sons And build a fire that will surround anyone who dares to say “You’re a woman, know your place”. Listen up loud and clear My place is everywhere and here I do not fear the fight for my daughters and her own For our fire is ours to call home. We live and breathe raging flames and until the fight is won Our fire will burn wild and as one. - @fayology47 Context for those of my followers who aren't from India: We are outraged over the recent rapes and brutalization against Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh. These are not isolated incidents and YES this is a Caste issue. Rape is slowly being normalised to a state where it's become worthy of ignorance. How long before women in our country can be safe? . . . . . . . . . . . . . #inktoberlist #inktober #inktober52 #inktober2020 #inktoberwisp #inktoberday2 #inktoberwispday2 #inkillustrations #wisp #womensmovement #violenceagainstwomen #casteism #hasthrasgangrape #genderequality #indianfeminist #herstory #humanrights #hathrasrapecase #feminist #feminism #women #casteviolenceinpandemic #illustratorsoninstagram #inktober2020wisp #inktoberallyearlong

A post shared by Vanora Vaz (@vangodoodle) on Oct 2, 2020 at 7:49am PDT

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𝗜𝗻𝗸𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟰 Prompt: Radio Mental health Association: Inside Voices I hear too much. there's voices inside and voices outside. and voices in texts and voices in swipes. there's chaos building between every story swipe and noise waiting to be heard behind every tap of the screen there's voices that find their way into my head without me allowing them in and they sound out things that no one else can hear like I've tuned in to a frequency that's dedicated to me and it sounds out, raging alarms some days and radio silences some others Screaming to me about love then whispering to me about pain but there never is an in-between. I no longer know which voices speak truth I no longer have control on which station to tune into, which one I can trust So most days I just sit back, and listen. -@fayology47 . . . . . . . . . . . . #inkillustration #inktober #inktober2020 #spooktober #inktober52 #inktoberradio #inktoberradio2020 #inktoberday4 #inktoberprompts #inktoberlist #jakeparker #radio #radiohead #radiofrequency #radiosilence #socialmedia #socialmediabreak #poetrycommunity #illustration #illustrate #inkillustrations #inked #monochrome #blackandwhite #conceptualartist #conceptualart #conceptart #doodlesoftheday #thingsthatmakeyougohmm hingsthat

A post shared by Vanora Vaz (@vangodoodle) on Oct 4, 2020 at 6:07am PDT

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𝗜𝗻𝗸𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟱 Prompt: Blade Mental health Association: Self-Harm And If the blade must become your god, may it be a god that fights for the path ahead and not end it before you even begin. May it slash through any doubt that you have a place in this universe and instead, be your weapon against the thoughts that threaten. May you wield it only to remind yourself you have more power staring it down, you have enough power to remould it, wear it as your crown. Know you’re bigger than it, Know you’re stronger than it, even if in the moment, it deems you weak. If the blade must become your god, I hope it remains your sword and shield. For we have lost too many warriors who simply thought they were not worthy of the fight When in reality, they were our best on the battlefield. I hope you know, you have people willing to help you wield that sword, until you have the strength to hold it on your own again. - @fayology47 . . . . (If you'd like a chance to win a free t-shirt with any of my inktober designs, head to my highlight 'T-shirt Raffle') . . . . . . #Inktober #inktober52 #inktober2020 #inktoberblade #inktober2020blade #inktoberallyearlong #inkwork #inkillustrations #inkillustration #inktoberprompts #inktoberlist #jakeparker #poetrycommunity #illustration #illustrate #inkillustrations #inked #monochrome #blackandwhite #conceptualartist #conceptualart #conceptart #doodlesoftheday #thingsthatmakeyougohmm #heart

A post shared by Vanora Vaz (@vangodoodle) on Oct 5, 2020 at 6:50am PDT

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𝗜𝗻𝗸𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟳 Prompt: Fancy Mental health Association: Social Inequality Someone taught the many to believe we aren’t all made of the same fabric, and that worthiness of life is based on a standard that was once created to discriminate. So now we sit in our fancy Ivory towers, bothered by a pea under 20 stories of concrete. So much so, that we’ve begun to ignore the atrocities right under our noses I suppose we’re too used to our comfort zones and now that we’re being shown a mirror that reflects our privileges, we’d rather shatter the glass, than uplift the masses. Truth is, our fancy ivory towers mean nothing at all if we can’t see we’re all living in the same reality. Where lies are disguised as truth And the voices we’re supposed to trust are being muted with our hard earned money. I hope you begin to see, privileges aren’t just fancy. They grant us a responsibility to even out the playing field to be a strong foundation for everyone to build up on, and to keep fighting, till everyone’s war is won. - @fayology47 Our identities are nuanced and intersectional, and in order to break the systems of oppression within our societies, it is important to think about whether or not our values align with the ways in which we live our lives. I hope that today's prompt helps you recognise your privilege, so that you ALWAYS lead with empathy. ✨🌻 . . . . . . . . #inktoberfancy #inktober2020 #inktober2020fancy #inktober #jakeparker #jakeparkerinktober2020 #fancy #inkillustration #finelinework #blackandwhite #bnwart #bnw #monochromeart #illustration #illustrate #conceptualart #socialinequality #ivorytower #privilege #whiteprivilege #doodle #conceptualartist #artist #inktoberday7 #doodlesoftheday #illustratorsoninstagram

A post shared by Vanora Vaz (@vangodoodle) on Oct 7, 2020 at 8:02am PDT

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