A GWENT artist has turned Brits’ feelings into art – to show The Journey to Calm.

Nathan Wyburn, from Ebbw Vale, created four pieces of art to show how Brits feel and what they associate with those feelings.

The four pieces are titled The Journey to Calm and use multiple colours and textures to represent the feelings of more than 1,000 people who were surveyed.

“I asked people on Instagram how they were feeling and what they associated with different feelings,” said Mr Wyburn.

South Wales Argus:

“Many associated black with heightened feelings of worry and unease (27 per cent), so that was the colour for the first piece. I used cassette tapes as people (28 per cent) said they felt ‘tangled’. It goes through the four pieces to white, which represented calm, so we used sun cream and cotton for the calm as people associated this with calmness.

“They are very different for me because they are not the typical pop culture I normally do but I tried to make pieces with what people were feeling.”

Mr Wyburn – who rose to fame on Britain’s Got Talent and has been creating art around popular culture and the Covid-19 pandemic – was commissioned to do the art by CiiTECH, a consumer-focused cannabis healthcare company behind CBD brand Provacan.

“From a personal level, I think they wanted an artist to collaborate with who the project would mean a lot to and with me being open about mental health and my struggles meant a lot," said Mr Wyburn.

“Their products help ease things, and I could display that in a creative way.

South Wales Argus:

“It’s been an honour to use my experience of suffering with personal anxiety to create this Journey to Calm. The series of images are a mixture of textures, feelings, colours and emotions to attempt a visualisation of what it feels like from one extreme to the other.

“Sticking to my niche of using everyday materials such as bottle tops, cassette tape, nails, cotton and sun cream it’s also a nod to my previous work and style. Art helps me feel calm, it’s my release, so I hope this piece can bring clarity and help explain the journey to you – the viewer.”

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The company conducted a survey of more than 1,000 adults and found almost three-quarters (71 per cent) had experienced higher levels of stress and worry over the course of the pandemic. This rose to 86 per cent when just talking to 18-24-year-olds.

Sixty-six per cent of those people said they are ‘unable to describe these feelings’, with 68 per cent saying that having to explain their feelings adds to the burden – something Mr Wyburn hopes the art will be able to help with.

“The project was based on statistics of people that do not feel like they can talk about their feelings with others, and with what everyone has been through over the past 18 months it is important to talk about it and I want people to be able to look at the art and know they can do that.”

Sixty-five per cent of those asked felt they were misunderstood by those around them, with a quarter being told to ‘cheer up’ and 40 per cent told ‘they will be fine’.

South Wales Argus:

Three-quarters of those asked were looking for ways to promote calm in their lives. Fifty-five per cent were doing regular exercise, 39 per cent introducing new daily routines and 27 per cent chose to try new products that have calming properties.

CiiTECH CEO, Clifton Flack, said: “The research shows that Brits have been experiencing lots of unease and greater levels of panic, amplified by the pandemic. But it’s very hard to understand if you have never experienced it. We want to try and make these feelings more visible and accessible to all, so those experiencing unrest feel they have a support network around them.”

The artwork is available to view at artofprovacan.co.uk