This coming April, the Soul Relics Museum will be setting up two pop-up exhibitions in London. The Soul Relics Museum collects photographs of objects which relate to a time of personal struggle with mental wellbeing. Objects are markers of our memories, and Soul Relics believes that object-based storytelling is a way for people to understand what recovery means to them and connect with others who have similar experiences. The project focuses on our relationship with ourselves to foster better understandings of people’s emotions, strengths and resilience and seeks to look beyond the medicalised narrative. As a result there should be a greater understanding of what it is like to struggle with mental ill health.

The Soul Relics Museum is the brainchild of Vanessa Yim. Vanessa conceived the idea after visiting the Museum of Broken Relationships in Croatia which archives memories of broken relationships with a significant other through objects. Following this visit, Vanessa saw an opportunity to bridge the museum and mental health sectors. She visited a number of other museums for research and gathered photos and stories from communities, managing to secure a small exhibition space to display them. In 2017, the museum was shortlisted for the Koreo Prize as a project which ‘provides a fresh and unique perspective on a complex social issue’.

Most importantly, I have had the honour to talk to many inspirational people and listen to heartfelt, honest and lesser-told stories

Vanessa Yim

The Soul Relics Museum is now in the process of fundraising for the upcoming photo exhibitions via a crowdfunding platform. Vanessa aims to raise £350. This is a purely non-profit initiative and every penny raised will be used solely for the cost of putting together the exhibitions.

As well as crowdfunding, you can follow the museum on Twitter  or pledge support for the project here. Pledging your support will allow the project to gain more recognition and awareness for larger funding.

The exhibition will be showing at the Denmark Hill Campus in Kings College London in April-May. Good luck Vanessa!

Photo by Paul Gaudriault