CityMag speaks to visual artist Radi Van’t Hof ahead of the Mindshare visual art exhibition returning to Adelaide this October.

South Australian traditional and digital artist Radi Van’t Hof has been pursuing art for over a decade and will feature their work in Mindshare’s exhibition for a second time this October.

“I didn’t think that I would have this opportunity at this part of my art progress,” Radi says.

“Doing it a second time, it’s still quite shocking to me.”

Mindshare is a mental health community and online platform that provides a voice for those with lived experience of mental illness. The creative space welcomes all original creative work, including — but not limited to — short stories, podcasts, poetry, paintings, photography, music recordings and mini-documentaries.

The free mindshare visual art exhibition is coming to the Adelaide City Library, North Adelaide Community Centre and Hutt Street Library this October for Mental Health Month. Running during library and community centre open hours, the exhibition will showcase works from NEAMI Arts, Uniting Communities, Skylight and Living Arts.

In recognition of Mental Health Month, the Mindshare exhibition will bring light to the artwork and creative writing of South Australians living with mental health challenges.

Radi is one of many artists sharing their stories through art, emphasising the importance of looking after your mental health and striving to educate the community.

An artist’s rage turns to beauty by Radi.

“The Artist Rage was supposed to be a landscape piece but I raged and painted it black,” Radi says.

“I have a piece that’s going to be featured on this year’s Mindshare which is a painting I did while having a panic attack and conveying those raw emotions.

“It’s an interesting experiment; being an artist, I like to connect my art with myself, so I like sharing mental health and going into the details of mental health.”

Through their work, Radi seeks to convey that disability does not diminish creative ability, as they say “I am an artist with a couple of disabilities, but it doesn’t disable me to do art.”

“Even if you have disabilities, you can still definitely still show the world what you can do; it doesn’t have to be art, it can be anything,” Radi says.

“The biggest thing that I have learnt is that if you give me a chance, I’ll do something, and I will do it to my absolute best.”

Broken too Beautiful by Radi

Radi’s piece Broken too Beautiful will be displayed at the exhibition, reflecting a creative blend of mediums.

“With Broken too Beautiful, I had the idea of doing the base of it and was thinking of embroidery – and I’ve never really done embroidery – but it inspired me in a way,” Radi says.

“And I just thought ‘why not put a hole in the middle of my art and sew it back together?'”

Explore a range of emerging artist’s works in the Mindshare Visual Art Exhibition from October 1-31 at city libraries. Find out more via the Mindshare website.