Mental illness is something that impacts and affects more individuals than one may realize. Whether it’s a neighbor, a friend or the stranger walking past you in the street, chances are there are a number of individuals around you at any given moment who are fighting an internal battle. That battle may be depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or other mental illness.
In fact, the CDC reported that from 2009-2012, more than 1 in 20 individuals ages 12 and older “reported current depression (moderate or severe depressive symptoms in the past 2 weeks).”
However, Elizabeth Breden is working to change that. Ms. Breden is an 8th grade student who is raising money for a Pay it Forward project for her school. The project was designed to have students pick a charity and then have them set up an event to raise money for their charity.
While there were a variety of charities that she could have chosen, Ms. Breden chose the National Alliance of Mental Illness, or NAMI. She has a personal reason for choosing NAMI (more specifically, NAMI Hernando) as her project, because she knows individuals who have struggled with mental illness in the past.
She held her charity event at The Hay Loft on November 19th, where visitors could buy and view her work. Miss Breden has been doing photography for about two years now, and photographs a wide range of subjects, including people, outdoor and indoor scenes, and animals. Here subject matter ranges from various trips she’s taken to various things around her house.
“Whatever catches my eye, I just take a picture,” she explained. “I take pictures of, basically, everything.”
She further explained that when she’s taking pictures she often tries to apply the Rule of Thirds, and tries her best to analyze the good qualities in other images, in an effort to apply them to her own photography endeavours. This process of learning new photography skills can definitely be seen in her work, as many of the pieces from her second year in photography show a complexity that her prior works do not.
“When I’m in the creative process of taking a picture, I think of what I want that picture to look like. So I take pictures that I see online and I think of angles that they used or, kind of, blurred techniques that they use, and I kind of incorporate that into my photos.”
While showing me around the gallery, she pointed to a very creative picture of a pool. Miss Breden said that she happened to be outside when a big storm came through and carried an umbrella outside to take pictures.
Not only is she involved in photography, but she also sketches, paints, and participates in the performing arts (including singing and playing the violin and guitar).
“I’m spreading awareness and I want to support this charity because this means a lot to me. Basically, I’m telling people to help out this charity and help…me raise awareness.”
Miss Breden’s project deadline is November 26th, and is considering taking the website down sometime close to that date. If you would like to buy a photo, visit her website at http://lizgallery.myfreesites.net/ There, you can view her gallery (all of the proceeds will go to NAMI). To contact Miss Breden about her work: Email lizmania1162@gmail.com; Phone: 352-556-9692.
To find out more information about the National Alliance of Mental Illness, visit http://www.nami.org/ There is also http://www.namiflorida.org/ (for NAMI Florida), as well as http://www.flnamihernando.org/ (for Hernando County).
If you’re an artist, art related business, or have an interesting lead for an art-related story, be sure to contact Elizabeth Dentato at edentato1@gmail.com.