00:00Last weekend, artists and visitors gathered in Rochester's Corn Exchange for Rochester Art Fair.
00:05I spoke to director Eva Page to find out more.
00:08I felt that there was nothing in Medway.
00:11I was hoping to bring a fair to Medway and allow artists to express themselves and to be seen.
00:20And we are growing now and it's just to prove that everyone actually needs that in Rochester.
00:26Eva also told me about her new art installation called The Rocking Chair.
00:30Visitors could sit and contemplate.
00:33The ward is a really fast piece.
00:35So just to sit down and rock in a chair, which you're very welcome to,
00:40and just kind of forget everyone is here and then just kind of have a bit of contemplation and reflection
00:46time.
00:46This fair was set up to connect artists directly to the public.
00:50Let's find out the behind the scenes process of setting up this event.
00:53I started last year, so all the planning and colleague artists to exhibit and logistics and setting up this exhibition
01:04and working with a venue with Medway Council, local communities, and just to get everyone together to enjoy.
01:12I also spoke to some of the many artists here about the kind of art they make and the meanings
01:16behind them.
01:17The art I make is all about celebrating who we are, basically.
01:20So I paint for emotion.
01:22And what I've worked out over the years of doing this, I don't think I'm painting the emotion that I
01:27feel in the moment.
01:28It's the emotion that I need.
01:29So this art here is actually based on real stories and lived experiences.
01:36This piece is particularly special to me.
01:39Basically, I was diagnosed with MS in 2022, but since having that diagnosis, I've turned that into a positive.
01:46So I take every day as it comes.
01:48And it's all about just adjusting that crown and just not letting it dampen me and myself.
01:54Art is often said to be a creative outlet that is important to people's well-being.
01:58But what do these artists think?
01:59So important to my well-being.
02:02I struggle with my mental health for a long time and I talk openly about it.
02:06And I think the way I did it was I escaped from the bar.
02:09Art saved me.
02:10I think art is an incredible outlet for that.
02:12Whether you're buying and looking at it every day and it gives you that feeling,
02:16or you're immersing yourself in it and doing it yourself as well.
02:19You know, it's the thing that basically makes you stop and breathe.
02:24Alia Pritchard for KMTV.
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