Renowned artist Alexander Rhys is to exhibit at the You Are Not Alone arts exhibition and festival between 6 - 10th October 2021 in Birmingham.  It is a free event with health and wellbeing creative workshops, symposiums and entertainment in a celebration of creativity for wellbeing and organised by the charity Arts All Over the Place.    

The festival is based at Moseley Hive, the old Pizza Express on 93a Alcester Road B13 9DD in the centre of Moseley Village next to Moseley private Park and Pool.  Arts All Over The Place have been providing community arts projects, exhibitions and community engagement events for adults with mental health problems since 2007. 

The charity celebrates the creative talents of those who have or have had mental health problems across all aspects of the arts and promotes the value of the arts in mental health recovery.  They make meaningful work that makes a difference by providing positive opportunities for many individuals and communities across Birmingham.   Alexander Rhys studied Fine art after dabbling in photography and exhibited across the globe and was supported by the Prince`s Trust.  His studio is in Minerva Works, Digbeth.  "My  work has many inspirations" he explained "and as I studied photography before BA Fine Art, I see constant links between the two. 

I attempt to use the aspects of composing an image or creating a structure that I have learnt when shooting with my camera in paintings. I also have a couple of mental health issues that make me see everyday banal things like ashtrays or abandoned objects in a way that reveals their own beauty and narrative".    

He is open and honest about his mental health issues and credits the Prince`s Trust for saving his life.  He has OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and painting is a therapy.  "When I paint", he said, "I don`t feel anything.  It`s all spontaneous movements and just being at one with the canvas.  I could get really pretentious and say all my anxiety and subconcious thoughts get released onto the canvas and that they are self-portraits but everything we do is a self-portrait anyway."   He has spoken publicly before about his gratitude to the Prince`s Trust for their support of his art.  "I have to be honest, the Prince`s Trust saved my life" he said.  "I always felt a bit misunderstood and the only thing I have every been good at is art. 

I am so grateful that they see my passion and enthusiasm for art.  it really hit me when they gave me funding as I finally had the opportunity to do what I love."   Alexander loves Birmingham, he has a studio in Digbeth and spends a lot of time wandering around the backstreets armed with his camera. 

"You never know what you are going to find" he said.  "Birmingham is such a diverse place with people from all over the world, wonderful smells and food and the different languages you can hear as you walk through town make me proud to be from the area. 

As an artist it is great to have all of these different influences around me, I could never lose inspiration living here in Brum".