SIDE EFFECTS | Tina La Porta

In anticipation of Mental Health Awareness Month, Tina La Porta’s presentation SIDE EFFECTS is now on YouTube. She originally gave this talk at The NSU Art Museum last Spring.

Tina La Porta is an artist diagnosed with Schizophrenia. She was introduced to art therapy during a stay in the hospital while living in New York City. Since then her artwork has focused on how she interprets her mental illness. Through working with her discarded medications and arranging them on resin coated boards, sculptures of her own hand, as well as making screen prints based on photographs of pills that she prints onto samples of wallpaper. Making art is the means through which the artist is able to get in touch with her innermost feelings about her diagnosis as well as to draw attention to societal stigmas around Mental Illness. Ms. La Porta’s use of medications revolve around her grappling with their side effects, “Pills are like wallpaper—they cover up the symptoms but they are not a cure.” says La Porta. “For me, they completely replace psychotherapy.” In addition to her visual art, Ms. La Porta has also made a series of sound works based on her experiences of hearing voices.

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