UK illustrator Livi Gosling and UK based charity YoungMinds have created the Largest UV blacklight painting to celebrate Guinness World Records Day 2018 with an enormous 453.22m² (4,878 ft² 61 in²) painting, in a bid to shine a light on young people’s mental health.
Livi, a team of young activists, and staff from YoungMinds came together to work tirelessly for 10 hours, using 80 litres of paint until the inspiring image of a head with a tree inside, took shape and was lit up under blacklight.
Both artist and charity wanted to shine a light on young people living with mental health problems – with three children, on average, in every UK classroom having a diagnosable mental health condition.
Livi, from Hertfordshire, came up with the final design after a workshop with YoungMinds activists; young people with personal experiences of mental health issues.
"I wanted to represent that just like a tree, mental health is some that needs to be nourished so that it can be healthy and blossom. Seeing my artwork scaled up to over 400 square metres was a surreal and exciting thing to see," Livi Gosling
Livi was delighted with how the project turned out: "The whole process has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. I’m delighted to be a Guinness World Records title holder along with YoungMinds."
Using the platform of Guinness World Records Day, the international day of record-breaking, YoungMinds wanted to raise awareness about the lack of support that exists for young people regarding their mental health.
"We want to shine a light on the fact that it’s currently far too hard for young people to get specialist mental health support," added Emma Thomas, Chief Executive of YoungMinds.
"With this fantastic world record, we want to show young people that they’re not alone with their mental health."
An official Guinness World Records adjudicator was present to announce the new record - the painting is the size of two tennis courts - and confirm Livi and YoungMinds as Officially Amazing™.
Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday said: "We've partnered with YoungMinds for this year's Guinness World Records Day as their purpose, to help young people to feel positive about themselves, aligns with ours.
"We want Guinness World Records to inspire children to not only be the best that they can be, but to overcome their personal challenges and feel positive about themselves."
"We hope that this UV painting will encourage young people to reach out when they’re struggling and help YoungMinds fight for better mental health support."
You can support YoungMind’s fight for young people’s mental health by signing their petition here.
Get involved with our Guinness World Records Day 2018 activity by using the hashtag #GWRDay
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