Hyderabad has always been a hotspot of the arts, with many travelling from faraway lands just to soak in the city’s cultural experience. Over the years, art has evolved too, with a more recent development in the scene being DIY art cafés. Canvas painting, candle-making, pottery, resin art, and more…you have an ocean of artsy options, which often make for extremely therapeutic experiences that can work wonders for mental health. CE speaks to art café founders and decodes the mental health benefits of art with the help of an expert.
A thoughtful step
Niharika Gollapalli founded Lyzure, Hyderabad’s first art therapy café, after she noticed that there were few experience-based spaces in the city, unlike cities in the US and UK, where there were many such spaces, including art cafés. “I’ve travelled around and seen places that were about more than just food and drinks. With Lyzure, I wanted to create a space for artists,” she said.
Shreya Gudena, the founder of Ignite Candle Bar and Art Café, shared similar thoughts, recalling, “Growing up in the US, I used to create art with my family and bonded with them over it. When I moved to Hyderabad, I wanted to give people a place where they could meet like-minded individuals and connect over creative activities.”
Although both café owners established their businesses with a love for the fine arts, engaging in creative activities has helped them destress, improving their overall mental well-being. “Doing art is a way to spend quality time with myself,” Niharika reveals, explaining, “For example, a person may wake up in the morning and drink coffee while spending time in nature. Art is my morning coffee.” Essentially, art for her is a mini-retreat from the hustle of daily life — a time to slow down and take things one stroke at a time.
For Shreya Gudena, art has had a direct impact, alleviating her anxiety. “When your brain works fast and you have many thoughts coming in at once, art refocuses that energy and streamlines your thoughts,” she notes, adding, “It gives you something to focus on without focusing on what’s wrong. And at the end of it, you have been productive and have a finished piece.”
Improving mental health
Shreya Banerjee, a consultant psychologist at Reboot Wellness, explained, “Art creates space between thought and emotion. It allows people to explore difficult thoughts and emotions from a safe distance by externalising these experiences through a creative process.”
Hands-on activities offer deeper experiential insights. The psychologist added, “When you’re using more of your senses, you have more resources from your body that are now in service of processing what you’re going through.”
Through this process, one feels their emotions more easily and in turn, is able to articulate them better. The psychologist noted, “You can come out of a painting session feeling like you’re in touch with the part of you that you don’t have words for, so you’re able to see what it is that you really need.”
Art is a healthy coping mechanism that creates space for self exploration, giving our inner world a more tangible form. However, before a person can express themselves through art, Shreya Banerjee advised that they must find ‘a place of quiet’. And DIY art cafés such as Lyzure and Ignite aim to create that place of quiet, providing the space and resources for people to tap into their creative abilities — and inevitably, their own psyche.