CHARLOTTE — One woman is sharing her story of making it through the lowest point in her life, now finding hope and purpose for herself and others.
“I had to go through my illness to get to wellness, and that is what building bridges is all about,” Charlotte artist Amy Campbell said while in front of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
An estimated 2,000 people have died by suicide at the San Francisco landmark. It’s the reason Campbell created The Bridges Project, taking shape right here in Charlotte.
“Every string in this exhibit represents courage, it represents life, and it also represents loss,” Campbell said.
“The Bridges Project” is a textile likeness of the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s on display inside Queen City Art, where executive director Kate McAllister calls it a symbol of hope.
“Really this gives people a visual of, I’m not alone, and I can help someone,” said Kate McAllister, executive director at Queen City Art.
Thousands of strands are woven together by people across the community. There are also encouraging notes that there is “strength in community,” and “the world is better with you in it.”
They’re messages Campbell herself could have used, about 20 years ago.
“I decided that this was it. I mean, I was going to, it was it, and nothing I did was good enough. I’m never going to recover. I don’t have the strength,” Campbell said.
A lifelong artist, Campbell traces her mental health struggles back to her teen years. She says most days since have been a challenge.
“And at points in my life I didn’t know that the next step wasn’t going to lead me over the edge,” Campbell said. “I used to call it creative mania, but in actuality, it’s bipolar.”
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness marked by extreme shifts in mood, energy, activity level and concentration. It causes ‘manic’ episodes - with feelings of elation or high energy, followed by ‘depressive’ episodes of sadness, indifference or hopelessness.
“And the swing from highs and lows, it’s death-defying,” Campbell said.
Getting a diagnosis and treatment has made all the difference for Campbell; so has sharing her story to anyone who needs to hear it.
“You hear all the time, your story matters, mental health matters. Like, what does that mean? Well, your story is a bridge. Your story is a bridge back to yourself, back to your family,” Campbell said.
Which brings us back to ‘this’ bridge - and its messages of hope:
“In order to love others, you must love yourself first. So you know those kinds of things, all of it is so uplifting and so triumphant,” McAllister said.
“The only prerequisite is you have to make it across. You have to go over and under through the ups and downs of life. And you make it all the way across,” Campbell said.
If you’d like to see The Bridges Project, it’s free. You can also weave in a string or write a note.
It’s at Queen City Art, on Raleigh Street in NoDa, Until May 27. Then it will move to the Central Piedmont Community College Levine Campus in Matthews.
>>You can find mental health resources near you with our county-by-county guide, at this link.