Goal:

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Seeds of Hope addresses the serious and tragic issue of suicide and does so through the use of the arts.  This innovative project aims to raise awareness around the prevalence of suicide and how it affects families, loved ones, and communities.  In order to do this several communities who have been affected by suicide will be invited to participate in a series of arts based workshops at the Museum.

 

The identified communities are Inuit, First Nation, Survivors (those who have lost loved ones to suicide), Veterans, Support Workers (who work with issues of suicide), and Survivors of a suicide attempt or suicidal ideation.

 

The goal is to have a diverse population to demonstrate how suicide affects many different communities. Through the use of mask making, drama, writing and other arts, participants have an opportunity to explore the subject of suicide and make a difference through their personal creative expression. Participants from each community are invited to attend three arts based mask-making workshops at the Museum.  Each community will meet on its own for these workshops.  After the workshops are finished these same participants will come together to work in a cross-cultural and collaborative way to plan a public exhibition of their work at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.  This exhibition will be held at during March and April 2017. 

 

Sadly, suicide is still surrounded by shame, silence, and taboo and the hope is that this project and exhibition will help to break the silence and raise awareness. This project is based on my previous research and award winning film “The Hidden face Of Suicide” which will be screened at the Museum during the time of the exhibition.

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~Yehudit Silverman, Project Director