The Bay

Robin Price, online mixed media, 2020

 The work speaks to how I manage my own mental health, through exercise, humour and a richly imagined inner life. One that since social distancing alone with my cat has taken on a more fantastic nature. These weeks in lockdown like most people I’ve moved much of my life online, maintaining relationships with friends and communities through social media.

 After a certain point, in frustration with posting about my Groundhog Day like experience I started to reconnect with my inner child and imagine a different life, like Mr Benn but without the fancy dress. We live increasingly in a post truth world and if I want to imagine for an hour a day that I am a middle aged pro skateboarder then there is currently no one placed to challenge me in that. Except for my cat James and he honestly doesn’t care. The Bay is a playful conflation of Instagram bullshittery, San Francisco’s skateboarding and music paradise, the Bay Area, and North Belfast’s Tiger’s Bay where I live.

 This exhibition contains material relating to coronavirus, the early signs of ageing, chronic and mild injury, yoghurt addiction, bad skateboarding and lies. If you are upset by any of the poorly performed tricks in this work, wider more serious issues in life or lingering back pain there is no shame in seeking out a nourishing therapeutic relationship with a qualified mental health professional or personal trainer. I have.