September is Pain Awareness Month.

PRESS RELEASE - “Pain Awareness Month”

ART COMPETITION COMMENCES SEPTEMBER 1st

September is Pain Awareness Month.

A unique event comes to Auckland and participating regions for the first time. Pain Awareness Month began in the United States fives years ago and will be promoted throughout September with an exciting live and online event organised by someone who lives in chronic pain.

In honour of those who deal with pain every day of their lives, Pain Awareness Month is holding an art competition created to raise awareness of the lives of those in pain, sharing knowledge about how best to deal with pain conditions, and raising awareness and money for the charities that support those in pain.

Successful entries will be exhibited on the 9th October at Tabac in Auckland CBD. The evening will include performances by amazing musicians, acrobats and actors and a silent auction of the winning pieces from the competition. At the conclusion of Pain Awareness Month a panel of judges will pick the successful entries for the exhibition with the proceeds going to the charity of the artist’s choice.

The competition is open to everyone; those with chronic pain and those without, professional artists and passionate amateurs. The theme is to show Art Inspired By Pain. It’s broad so as to include more of the aspects of chronic pain – the good things it can bring as well as the bad.

Participants are invited to submit art from any medium, though entries need to be displayable online. Submissions should include 3 photographs of the work and a completed entry form available from www.painmonth.co.nz. Entry forms should be emailed to art@painmonth.co.nz . Mailing details are available on the website.

Once received, they will be posted on the website forum and on the Pain Awareness Month facebook page, for public comments and to be voted on for the peoples choice awards presented throughout the competition. At the end of the month, votes will be tallied and the entry with the most votes in total will be made part of the silent auction on the 9th October along with the entries chosen by our panel of judges.

The organiser, Hannah Gross saw a need to bring Pain Awareness Month to New Zealand. She is a 28yr old who has had fibromyalgia now for 12 years. Fibromyalgia is a disorder of the central nervous system which causes widespread pain and health issues. In that time she has been fully functioning and working fulltime and bedridden, unable to even support herself upright. When she sought treatment both in New Zealand and the USA, and noted the public reaction to her condition; that the majority of people don’t know what it is, and the first reaction to hearing the words ‘chronic pain’ tends to be disbelief or fear.

People wishing to participate in the competition, volunteer assistance with Pain Awareness Month or for and general enquiries please contact Hannah at nix@painmonth.co.nz.

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