New Exhibition, The Wilderness Diary, Opens at Fenimore Art Museum on July 8

This new exhibition features the work of artist and mental health advocate Jessica Farrell.

Farrell’s work challenges misconceptions and stigmas, shedding light on the one and five people who struggle with a mental health condition today.

New Exhibition:

The Wilderness Diary

Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY

Community Gallery

July 8–31

Cooperstown, New York — Fenimore Art Museum presents The Wilderness Diary, opening Friday, July 8 in the Museum’s Community Gallery. This new exhibition features an arresting series of nine portrait paintings, plus a companion book and audio-recording by artist and mental health advocate Jessica Farrell. The project was inspired by Farrell’s Aunt Barbara who wrote a diary in the 1960s-1970s detailing her journey with bipolar disorder. The subjects of Farrell’s paintings have all experienced a mental health struggle; many of them are peer recovery specialists she has worked with in the community. Each person is depicted in their youth with an allegorical animal companion. The Catskills Mountains with their ever-changing and sometimes foreboding skies serve as a backdrop--mirroring the emotional and physical isolation Farrell’s subjects described.

Farrell is a member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Delaware & Otsego Counties. She describes the project as “a meditation” on the significant, on-going mental health crisis that plagues this nation. She hopes her work challenges misconceptions and stigmas and sheds light on the one and five people who struggle with a mental health condition today.

Farrell says, “Ultimately, The Wilderness Diary is about triumph over adversity. Despite living with a greatly misunderstood condition, the people I’ve painted advocate for individuals in our community. Their lived experiences challenge misconceptions, offer insight and give all of us hope.”

The exhibit is on view from July 8–31.