THINGS I DON'T TALK ABOUT - Community Engagement & Art Installation

Things I Don’t Talk About
Martina Maya-Callen

A silent wall. A space seemingly empty, yet teeming with the unseen weight of countless untold stories. Things I Don’t Talk About is a mental health awareness installation that invites the community into an act of both vulnerability and revelation. Participants step forward, invisible ink markers in hand, to pour out the words they’ve swallowed, the burdens they’ve carried alone—whispers of mental health struggles, the ache of discrimination, the scars of trauma.
At first glance, the wall is seemingly blank outside of the words “THINGS I DON’T TALK ABOUT”, an illusion of emptiness mirroring the quiet isolation of suffering. But when the UV light sweeps across its surface, the invisible confessions ignite into being, glowing like constellations in the dark. Here, in this fleeting illumination, the unspoken becomes visible.
This installation demonstrates the unseen battles we all carry and a call for radical compassion. It is a reminder that within each of us exist entire universes of pain, resilience, and survival—hidden, but no less real. We do not always see the weight others bear, but we can choose to move through the world with kindness, knowing that no one is truly alone