Why ‘Unhooked?’

You might be wondering why we chose the name Unhooked.
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Curator Dale explains: “The reason I chose the name Unhooked was because that is a word that has been integral to my own therapeutic journey. There have been times when I’ve been with my counsellor, giving myself a really hard time and expecting everything to change and be better immediately. And she would say to me ‘imagine a piece of velcro. Try to unhook loop by loop and be proud of every one rather than expecting everything you’re feeling to change right now.’ She also encouraged me to use my art to ‘unhook’ from expectations and things like social media that I felt were pushing down on me. I thought about what to call it the exhibition and didn’t want it to be a cliché of mental health issues. I would like the exhibition to be a positive thing rather than it being the usual attitude of ‘here we are, broken people. Feel sorry for us’. I know I personally use my ‘differentness’ as a motivation and inspiration rather than a hindrance.