“Unmasking Brain Injuries,” a traveling art exhibit intended to promote awareness of the prevalence of brain injury, is currently on public display in the lobby of St. Tammany Health System’s flagship St. Tammany Parish Hospital in Covington.
The free, temporary exhibit will remain on view at the hospital until March 13 in recognition of March as Brain Injury Awareness Month.
A project of the Brain Injury Association of Louisiana, “Unmasking Brain Injuries” gives brain injury survivors a voice through art in the form of an array of masks, each decorated by a brain injury survivor or family member. Each mask is accompanied by an artist’s statement, offering a peek both inside the artistic process and at the inner emotions of those affected by brain injuries.
The exhibition is part of a larger, worldwide initiative and includes 120 such masks so far. The display at St. Tammany Parish Hospital showcases the masks and stories of 42 people from across Louisiana, including Mandeville, Covington, Slidell, Baton Rouge and other locales.
“Behind every mask is a story, and every story is told by a brain injury survivor,” the association says in a description of the display, adding: “This striking collection helps viewers understand that people with brain injuries are deserving of dignity, respect, compassion and should be valued as citizens in their respective communities.”
Brain injury has been called a “silent epidemic” because public recognition of it is extremely low despite the number of people who are injured each year. Consequently, the effects of brain injury are often invisible to an unknowing observer.
The “Unmasking Brain Injuries” display is exhibited locally with the support of St. Tammany Health Foundation’s award-winning Healing Arts Initiative.
Learn more about the Unmasking Brain Injury project at Biala.org. Those interested in creating a mask for inclusion in the project can email kim@biala.org.