LEGO artist raises awareness about mental health

A LEGO artist in New Zealand sends a message about mental health with a mosaic of Robin Williams.

With just her third creation ever, Donella Evans of Southland, New Zealand, has made a 2.1 by 1.8–metre piece of artwork for a competition at 2021’s Southland Brick Show. She won the prize for Best Effort, but says that her main goal was to raise awareness about mental health.

Evans started planning the build back in February. It ended up being built out of roughly 65,000 LEGO pieces, to form a huge mosaic of Robin Williams’ face, along with the words: ‘We can’t always see the suffering behind the smile. People don’t fake depression, they fake being ok. Always treat one another with kindness.’

“The first person who springs to mind for my generation [when you think about mental health] is Robin Williams because he was this happy person,” explains Evans to Stuff. “When he took his life, it was a shock. We don’t understand what’s going on with each other. We need to be kind.”

Southland Brick Show partnered with I Am Hope, a youth- and community-focused support group for the local area. Evans was also inspired by their work when coming up with the message. Her build impressed the management team so much that it will go on display at next year’s event.

Featured Image: Robyn Edie, Stuff

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