Fine Line: Mental Health / Mental Illness

JANUARY 2 – MARCH 30, 2014
FINE LINE: Mental Health / Mental Illness
A Documentary Of Voices, Stories, And Portraits by MICHAEL NYE
 

Fine Line: Mental Health / Mental Illness pairs photography with audio recording in a documentary project that reveals the courage and the fragility of people living with disorder, confronts stereotypes, and draws attention to the tenuous threshold between stability and unbalance. Photographer Michael Nye spent four years photographing and recording stories, discovering how, in his words, “Mental illness touches the deepest parts of who we are; our identity, self worth, the inability to communicate, confusion and loss of control. It can happen for no apparent reason and at any time. Every person is vulnerable to mental illness.” In simple, eloquent detail, 38 black-and-white portraits and the voices of those portrayed speak of denial, fear, stigma and separation, pain, abuse, coping, healing, and humanity. Nye’s Fine Line exhibition is presented in conjunction with Texas State's 2013–2014 Common Experience theme, Minds Matter: Exploring Mental Health and Illness, and is co-sponsored by CFAN Company as well as the university’s Common Experience and the Wittliff Collections.

PLEASE NOTE: This exhibition involves mature subject matter. We suggest all children be accompanied by a parent, teacher, or other adult who can address questions from younger viewers.

Watch Michael Nye during his artist talk, held on February 11, 2014 at the Wittliff Collections.

^{[above] Elizabeth, © 2002, by Michael Nye}