Annabel Merrett/ Love is in the air

Annabel Merrett tries to take the fear out of mental health within relationships. She makes art that show how each partner is feeling and how their brain might be working - 3D pictures show relationships moving back and forth, through; joy, impulse, confusion, misrepresentation, and fear. Using strong coloured crayons and silicon tubes she creates a picture of connections between couples over time.

Merrett lives and works as a full-time practising artist in London. Several years ago, she was very ill, and while recovering, she read about ‘shadow artists’—people who endlessly hover around real artists whilst never confronting their own creativity. It struck her that she had always been a shadow artist. She stopped buying art and shadowing artists and started painting. Consequently, she went to art school to learn how to paint and sculpt.

Instinctively, she found her work was based on observation and personal experience of mental health in relationships - how we can sabotage good relationships, rush to love too quickly, be misunderstood or give conflicting signals. Mental health in relationships can feel like an ugly subject, but she’d like her art to look compelling, pleasing and even loving.