About | Annabel Merrett

Annabel Merrett tries to take the fear out of mental health. She sculpts busts that show how the person is feeling and how their brain might be working. It goes from idle gossip all the way through to contemplating suicide, so playful and poignant, always confirming that mental health is not a monster.

She lives and works as a full-time practising artist in London. Several years ago, she was very ill, and while recovering, she read about ‘shadow artists’—people who endlessly hover around real artists whilst never confronting their own creativity. It struck her that she had always been a shadow artist. She stopped buying art and shadowing artists and started painting. Consequently, she went to art school to learn how to sculpt.

Instinctively, she found her work was based on observation and personal experience of mental health. Mental health can feel like an ugly subject, but she’d like her art to look compelling, pleasing and even humorous.Merrett also works on private commissions, collaborating with clients to create personalised sculptures.

Contact: merrett.annabel@gmail.com.

Exhibitions

2025 ‘Mood States’ Queen Square Library

2025 'Raging X' The Royal College of Psychiatrists International Congress, Cardiff

2025 'Mood States' The Glenside Hospital Museum, Bristol

2025 'Mood States' Oxford University Department of Psychiatry, Oxford

2024 'Mood States' The Gordon Museum of Pathology, King’s College London

2024 'Something to Say' The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London

2024 'Mood States' The Royal College of Psychiatrists, London

2023 'Mood States' The Museum of the Mind, Bethlem

2023 'Fragment' Brompton cemetery

2023 'Mood States' The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London