Suna Imre is the Arts and Health Producer at The Point. She spoke to Louisa White about her own art practice.
Q: You have been interviewing lots of artists about how their mental health has been supported by engaging in the arts. I’m curious about your own arts practice in relation to mental health and wellbeing?
A: Well it's always been there for me, I guess. I was lucky – I wanted to explore the arts from a young age and I went on to study the performing arts at degree level and postgraduate level; dance, performance and also fine art.
It saved me in the early days when I was young. Having had a chaotic, difficult childhood, I didn’t really have a firm foundation from which to then springboard into adulthood. And so when I was dancing or exploring different materials I was actually finding some freedom from the difficulties I was facing at the time.
Then as I grew older I saw this wonderful link between this freedom I felt as an artist and the liberation that can be acquired from a strong meditation practice.
Q: That was my next question actually! I understand that you are a Zen practitioner and I’m interested to know how those two practices meet, your art practice and your meditation practice?
A: A lot of people talk about entering into a flow when they are creating or making – and I feel that too. I enter a space where I seem to be able to shake off the usual constraints and worries and connect with something far greater than the limits of my human form and life.
Q: So your art is a form of spirituality?
A: In a nutshell, yes - I think it is.
