VISUAL artist and depression fighter, Shingirai Greg Butao-Mocho says through his art he seeks to convey mental health messages.
Butao-Mocho, a part four student at the University of Zimbabwe studying medicine said through his drawings, he sought to evoke emotions.
“Art is used to express what people cannot say through words. One of my drawings, In My Head expresses that people look fine from the outside, but are trapped in thoughts. The prison bars on the artwork represent the feeling of being trapped or imprisoned in our own thoughts and emotions while the human figure inside represents our inner-self that is struggling to break free from this cycle,” he explained.
“The artwork is essentially a call to action for self-care and expression as a way of breaking free from the mental prison we may find ourselves in.”
Butao-Mocho said he had embraced the ability of visual art to speak one’s his mind out.
“I have always been somewhat of an awkward and quiet child, so I drifted to art as a way of self-expression, to say what I could not say with words.
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“Art sparks dialogue, evokes emotions and draws viewers into perspectives encouraging empathy and a more compassionate society where people look fine from the outside while suffering and trapped in their own thoughts.
“I have experienced anxiety. It is something that I am very familiar with, that is what motivated me to draw this.”
Butao-Mocho said he was suffering from depression when he decided to draw the piece In My Head before he received counselling at a local clinic.
“Controlling my emotions, what triggered them and what fuelled those thoughts is how and why I got out of the slump,” he recalled.
Butao-Mocho has done portraits in partnership with friends Blessings Mirira, Kilton Dzapasi and Takudzwa Mugore that have been showcased at the Ela Graden Fair in Newlands, Harare.