Gashbin Ari Othman

Bilbao, 2019

One of the things that still have a big stigma around it to this day is mental illnesses and very few people are aware of it or have any information about it. And many people suffer from mental illnesses but are clueless about it or they cannot reach out for help because of people’s judgment or their families not understanding or their situations not being taken seriously, hence they feel lonely and abandoned by the ones around them. What I want to do through this program is raise awareness for these mental illnesses and try to show people what mental illnesses actually are, and hopefully reduce the stigma around it and show those who are suffering that they are not alone nor abandoned and they deserve to get the help they need.

Gashbeen was 22 years old when she visited Bilbao. She is a student in university of Sulaymani and i study statistics and informatics and currently working as a full time artist in Kurdistan- Iraq.

Art in all its forms has always been a great my passion of mine all my life but I only started creating it three years ago when I felt like I needed a way to express what is in my mind and what I am feeling. I started with drawing simple drawings in my notebook then practice doing more complex and detailed drawings with ink and after a while started using watercolors and absolutely fell in love with it. I always strive to get better at what I am doing and explore new ways so I started working with oil paint and canvases and I am working on improving my skills and techniques with it.