Antifragile calls for connection, change

A POWERFUL sense of connection filled the Fyansford Paper Mill last Friday, as the art collective Antifragile launched its second exhibition.

The group, which operates out of the Norlane Community Centre, brought together artists, advocates and community members for an evening that blended honesty, creativity and hope.

The exhibition opened with live music and an Indigenous-inspired spread, setting the scene for a night that encouraged conversations about mental health, stigma and our shared humanity. Artworks across the space explored the full spectrum of lived experience, tackling themes of despair, loss and fear as well as resilience and recovery.

Many reflected on the limitations of the systems meant to provide care, while others celebrated the strength that comes from community and self-expression.

Antifragile founder Clare Johnston delivered a powerful speech, calling for empathic and honest responses that allow everyone to see their own brilliance.

“Our art inspires the opportunity to see our humanity, to share your humanity in response,” she said.

“We get a choice — we make the meaning so we can change it. We can alter the words that shape a person’s world.

“We can be the reason a person finds the path to their own self-actualisation simply by taking the time to see past all the labels, the assumptions, the outward expressions of trauma, illness, disability and fear.”

The collective’s secretary Levi Foster then shared the struggle that led them to Antifragile just six months ago, and the lifesaving impact it has had on them.

“To navigate the world as a mentally ill person is isolating. We aren’t understood, we aren’t believed, we aren’t accepted. We’re feared, infantilised, pitied and judged, even by the people who are meant to help us,” Foster said.

“What if there was a place we could stop hiding the fact that we are sick and still be treated like people? Where our illnesses are seen without defining us, where we can belong. There is now and it’s called Antifragile.

“Antifragile saved my life and will save many more.”

The exhibition will host its final today tomorrow (Saturday,October 18).