Wigan's artistic perspective on mental health

Scott Wilcock, who runs Snow Graffiti, has been creating four window paintings at the Galleries shopping centre in town which is due to be demolished for a new development.

The Ashton artist said: “I contacted Wigan Council about it around a year ago when all the shops were closing due to the lockdown but it never ended up going ahead.

“I contacted them again more recently to just do one window and they said they were up for having all these big windows painting.

“It’s a similar theme to the one I did of Caroline Flack last year and I wanted to do something along those lines.

“The idea is that they will motivate and remind people that some people are struggling and to reach out to them.

“One of the pictures shows a father and son with different thought bubbles and I struggled to caption it because it has so many meanings behind it.

“I asked on Facebook for some captions and I’ve had some great ones like the best things in life are free and hands and hearts over houses and cars.”

Scott only had a month to prepare for his latest works and had been undecided with what form some of his pieces would take.

Another of the paintings has been modelled by Scott’s niece showcasing the powerful message: “A smile can hide the deepest pain #BEKIND.”

Scott added: “I asked her to model some poses for me and this was the result.

“I did a lot of research on this one because I wanted it to be a strong image. I’ve never suffered with mental health myself but I know many people do suffer with it.

“I looked into a few famous people who have had their struggles and how they got through it.

“Originally I was going to do a similar image but the background of money, kids etc.

“What I learned was those that do suffer with it don’t why they are suffering painful thoughts.

“Rather than putting the reasons I just had the girl upset to show emotions because it affects people in so many different ways.”

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