UMSL-Missouri Institute of Mental Health is proud to host transmedial artist, educator and curator Yvonne Osei (yvonneosei.com) for the third year of the MIMH’s Scientist Artist Collaborative (SAC) program. The exhibition represents the culmination of the UMSL-MIMH 2018 Scientist Artist Collaborative.
Osei collaborated with scientists, researchers, and clinicians at MIMH who strive to improve and transform mental health outcomes through innovative research, program development, program evaluation, and community outreach. Together Osei and members of MIMH dissected “Fashion and The Brain – How is the Brain Fashioned and How is Fashion Brained?” through artistic and scientific methodologies. In response to prompts conceptualized by Osei, the team engaged in a performance art of thrift-shopping for articles of clothing that represented their 20-year-old selves. “Fashion and The Brain” showcases remnants of the performance, a transformation of clothing into art that reflects memory and memorabilia, family history and personal accounts, self-love, travel, and the boundless nature of time.
MIMH’s SAC program is an opportunity to connect leading artists with Principal Investigators/Scientists at MIMH to facilitate new and creative basic science research to develop innovative and high-impact prevention and intervention programs. Artists and scientists share many common attributes, particularly in terms of engaging the creative process. However, science can easily become overly focused, conservative, and guarded, slowing the scientific process and limiting the breadth of outcomes.
The SAC works to break through these barriers and encourage PIs to engage the in creative process in the most effective, impactful, and innovative manner. The collaborative transfers big picture thinking and disruptive artistic process into the scientific arena to promote scientific discovery that improves the human condition and leads to a better world.