Our champion Abi put on her puppet show, Trace, at this year’s Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival.
Her hugely moving show explores adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the experiences she had growing up.
She said: “I’ve been an artist all my life, particularly making paper-cuts. When I turned sixty I decided I wanted to do puppetry. I had an idea at the back of my mind that I couldn’t even vocalise at that time. I created three successful shows for children which I performed locally, and on my own, which was quite difficult.
“Eventually I gathered the courage and confidence to speak about my idea, a puppet show for adults about ACEs, and their longterm impact, particularly on mental health. As it comes out of my own experience, it is very much one person’s perspective. It’s a single example of a problem experienced throughout society. There’s a massive silence still around ACEs, so one idea is to encourage people to speak about their experiences; acknowledge they are victims and share their stories of survival.”
Check out some pictures from the show below.
