NJ TRANSIT PARTNERS IN MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS ART PROJECT AT NEWARK PENN STATION

Public Art Installation Highlights Photos of Everyday People to Demonstrate Mental Illness Can Affect Anyone

October 16, 2018

 

NEWARK, NJ — NJ TRANSIT and the Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris (MHAEM) together unveiled the Out in the Open. In it Together public art project highlighting mental health issues at Newark Penn Station earlier today. The installation, a partnership between MHAEM and NJ TRANSIT, is intended to demonstrate mental illness can affect anyone and help is available.

 

“NJ TRANSIT is glad to partner with MHAEM on this very important project, highlighting that mental illness affects people of every age, gender and strata,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Kevin Corbett. “We are pleased to display these powerful images in our stations, and if we are able to help one person recognize the need for mental health assistance in themselves or a loved one, then the effort is a success.”

 

Five large-scale photographic portraits of individuals impacted by mental illness are displayed along Newark Penn Station’s Track One near the East End Doors to show that together, faces of hope and resilience are at the forefront of this issue.

 

The photos will debut at Newark Penn Station and will remain on display until December 16, 2018, and then will be on display at the Frank R. Lautenberg Station at Secaucus Junction from January 3, 2019 until March 3, 2019.  NJ TRANSIT will announce additional locations at a later date.

 

On March 2, 2011, the artist JR won the TED prize at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and called for the creation of a global participatory art project with the potential to change the world. This project is called INSIDE OUT.

 

Inspired by JR’s largest format street "pastings", INSIDE OUT gives everyone the opportunity to share their portrait and make a statement for what they stand for. It is a global platform for people to share their untold stories and transform messages of personal identity into works of public art.

 

Each INSIDE OUT group action around the world is documented, archived and exhibited online. Over 260,000 people have participated in 129 countries.

About NJ TRANSIT

NJ TRANSIT is the nation's largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 944,000 weekday trips on 251 bus routes, three light rail lines, 12 commuter rail lines, and through Access Link paratransit service. It is the third largest transit system in the country with 165 rail stations, 62 light rail stations, and more than 18,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia.