JulieAnn Atwal is a Medway-based Photographer
Julie is a natural storyteller, who from a young age used art to express her ideas, thoughts and feelings. A wildly creative child, she sought comfort in writing fiction, poetry and music. In 1988, Julie graduated with an honours degree in Communication & Media Production and spent the next few years working in the television industry in London. Following the birth of her children, she suffered post-natal depression and spent almost a decade at home. When she felt ready to enter the workplace she chose education and taught vulnerable and disadvantaged children for over 12 years.
Julie is passionate about opening dialogues into mental health difficulties and empowering others to take steps towards transformation and healing. Her life has been one long journey learning to identify and take action to support her mental health; navigating her way through depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia, and most recently, menopause. The onset of menopause symptoms coincided with lockdown and life suddenly became much more difficult to manage. For her, the most distressing symptom was undoubtedly the cognitive impairment.
“Finding it difficult to form sentences at times … writing and journaling was an impossibility, so I turned to images as a way of dealing with strong emotions. I picked up my camera and got myself out of the house whenever I could.”
Transformation and Healing with Dragons
Early on in Julie’s journey to wellness, a chance encounter with Dr. Tamara Russell, a clinical psychologist and neuroscientist, led to her working alongside the team on a mindfulness programme for schools. As well as exploring, ‘What Colour is Your Dragon?’ activities in the classroom, Julie created her own Dragon Art and documented her journey over a period of 2 years.
Julie’s talk will introduce the language of the Green, Blue and Red Dragons and explain how she used and continues to use them as a tool to restore, improve and sustain her mental health. Participants will then watch a short film of Julie’s Dragon journey, which encompasses the period leading up to the pandemic and teaching from home during the lockdown. Following that, Julie will talk about how she combines dragon methodology with mindful photography and will tell the story of the life-changing transformation that occurred during an unexpected collaboration with an artist that ultimately led to her decision to quit her teaching job and pursue her new ‘arty’ life.
Note: Julie’s Solo Exhibition in June!
Visit The Space, 388 High Street, Rochester, Kent ME1 1DJ from June 3 to 29! You have a whole month to check out Julie’s incredible artwork before meeting her in person at the conference!
