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Disabled-Veteran Artist Explores Mental Health Journey in “Moss Mind”
Recent VWU graduate hopes to foster understanding and sow seeds of collective healing
University News | June 8, 2023
A captivating woodland exhibition has transformed VWU’s Neil Britton Art Gallery.
“Moss Mind,” the solo exhibition of sculptor and disabled Navy veteran Alison Coutu ’22, mesmerized guests during the June 7 opening reception. On their journey through the land Coutu created, viewers experienced an evocative odyssey that transcends the boundaries of art and embraces the raw beauty of the human spirit.
Through the rich tapestry of her own journey, Coutu has breathed life into a collection of multimedia sculptural works. Each carefully crafted piece serves as a visual account of her resilient passage through a maze of profound mental-health challenges.
A December 2022 graduate of VWU, Coutu spent six years as a Navy logistics specialist. In 2017, she deployed on a Navy ship to the Persian Gulf and went through a divorce at the same time.
“There was a lot of hardship during that deployment,” she said. “We lost three sailors to suicide.” During that arduous experience, Coutu tried to take her own life three times before getting the help she needed.
Her journey of healing led her to the transformative power of art, she said, “to bring into existence things that can’t be put into words.” She also hopes her art will shed light on the experiences of disabled veterans, kindling empathy and sowing the seeds of collective healing.
Coutu’s exhibition is part of her post-graduate internship with VWU Professor of Art Philip Guilfoyle.
Coutu is open about her struggle with mental illness. “I’m hoping to help shatter the barriers surrounding mental health. We all share the same problems. We just have different stories about how we got there.”
View “Moss Mind” in the Neil Britton Art Gallery, adjacent to Hofheimer Library on the VWU campus, through August 31. The gallery is open Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; and Sunday noon-5 p.m.