Robert Lenkiewicz - Mental Illness - ASSETS

Robert Lenkiewicz is a painter who paints about life. He first started painting the homeless but then went on to painting about mental illness. He painted images called 'Mental Handicap' he looked at the disadvantages that these  people had within society, this sort of painting had a powerful message in when it came into society and he portrayed this through this particular image.

Lenkiewicz wanted individuals to see them as 'These are people. These are part of our society. They are ourselves.' Each family contributed to the survey their response to a short questionnaire about the impact of their child’s condition on their lives.' I feel that documenting this and even though its not mental illness such as depression or self harming but its still affecting someone's life and can cause mental illness such as depression and self harming because they feel like an outsider, so I feel that painting someone who is handicap is good, as the quote above says they are individuals just like the rest of us.

These individuals in the painting are Barbara Bridgeman and Caroline Young (painted in 1976)