A Show of Creativity, Talent and Hard Work at IMU Mind Matters’ Art Competition

In conjunction with Mental Illness Awareness Week 2020, IMU Mind Matters Club held a digital and traditional art competition which was open to all IMU students with submissions up to 27 November 2020. The competition’s theme was Mental Health for All (which is the theme for World Mental Health Day 2020) with the aim to raise awareness on mental illness, as well as promote help seeking behaviours and emotional well-being practices. There was a total of 19 submissions for this competition with Dr Sheba DMani, Senior Lecturer and Head of Department, Language, Communication and Culture at IMU being our competition judge. Listed below are our top three winners! The winners have a caption and/or description to explain their entry.

Prize	Name of Student	Art Piece	Description
First place (ZALORA voucher RM275)	Masitah Amani binti Ismail – DT120		Every thought matters. Everything that we could possibly think of has an influence on our mental health. Hence, in these trying times, I would like to encourage all of us to think of only good thoughts and eliminate the bad ones so that we will continue to be in a happy and healthy state. Shower ourselves with nice words, for it helps us to attain the peace we longed for.
Second place (ZALORA voucher RM200):	Beh Ke Zhen – FIS120		The artwork depicts a person with a blindfold covering their eyes in the centre of the artwork. This was drawn to show how a person suffering from mental illness will find it hard to see the beauty around them while they are suffering. It shows that they are in need of help and makes the drawing more emotional. The background demonstrates the importance of mental health and lists out some examples of mental health illnesses. The newspapers in the background sends a grungy vibe to the artwork while it connects to the topic mental health. I tried to use old newspapers too as I wanted the drawing to look a little old and worn, while also having a deeper meaning – that mental health illnesses have been around for a long time and we should be more aware of it. I created this piece of art as I really enjoy drawing a lot and thought that this topic/theme was quite interesting. Personally, I think that it is important to share our knowledge about mental health and spread awareness about it.
Third place (ZALORA voucher RM150)	Leong Ja Jeck – FIS120		Beneath a sky on the verge of collapsing..

Here are some honorary mentions for these beautiful artworks! These are truly a showof talent and hard work! We thank you for your participation.

Name	Art Piece
Sua Zi Yee – DT117
Mohamed Shifaq – ME219

We thank all the participants for their submissions. All participants will receive a Certificate of Participation from IMU Mind Matters Club.

Written by Tan Jia Qi, Vice-President, Mind Matters Club, IMU

Related article: Addressing Mental Health Issues During IMU’s Mental Health Week 2020