Wretch – 3rd Prize Winner | Art as a Response to Mental Health 2025 - Artist: Gerald Somovidis, London

There are some artworks that stop you in your tracks—not because of their beauty or polish, but because of their raw, unfiltered honesty. Wretch by Gerald Somovidis is one of those pieces.

Painted boldly on torn corrugated cardboard, the image shows a human figure bent over a toilet, violently vomiting—a moment usually kept hidden, private, even shameful. But here it is: unflinching, exposed, and painfully real. The piece has been awarded 3rd Prize in this year’s Art as a Response to Mental Health exhibition—and it is easy to see why.

Gerald describes Wretch as part of a series that explores mess as a physical manifestation of poor mental health. This particular work stems from personal experience—a moment when his emotional anguish was so intense, so overwhelming, that it quite literally made him sick. The body, here, becomes a vessel for psychological suffering. What is usually unseen—mental illness—erupts into the physical realm.

The choice of materials is powerful. The rough, torn cardboard serves as more than a backdrop—it is part of the story. It mirrors the fragility, the damage, the disposability that people can sometimes feel when their mental health unravels. The figure, sketched in raw, expressive lines, feels almost skeletal—exhausted, emptied out.

This is not a comfortable image. It is not meant to be. Gerald explains that he wanted to show an “unflattering and in some ways degrading view” of the experience. Because that is the truth for many. Mental illness is often not tidy, poetic, or dignified—it is messy, chaotic, and filled with moments we are conditioned to hide. Through Wretch, Gerald invites us to look directly at that mess—and not look away.

But this painting is more than shock or provocation. It is an act of courage. By offering such a personal and vulnerable glimpse into his lived experience, Gerald challenges the stigma around mental health—the idea that these struggles should remain hidden, silent, or shameful. Wretch says, “This is what it looks like. This is what it feels like. And I am showing it to you because it matters.”

There is strength in that. In the willingness to turn private pain into public testimony. And in doing so, Gerald gives others permission to speak about their own messy, complex, very human experiences.

Wretch does not romanticise suffering—it confronts it. And that is exactly what makes it unforgettable.