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Friday 19 May 2023

Passengers travelling through London Bridge receive a visit from the “Sticky Fairy” who has sprinkled some positivity around the station

Region & Route:

Southern

| Southern: Kent

Viral mental health artist Stephanie Seege, known online as “The Sticky Fairy”, is making her exhibition debut “Stardust” in collaboration with Network Rail at London Bridge station.

Stardust is a two-part exhibition which has launched today (19 May) and will be running until 31 December, designed to raise mental health awareness and spread joy to millions of passengers.

Struggling with her own mental health, Stephanie started scribbling quotes on post-it notes and putting them up around her flat for inspiration. Then one day last year, it struck her that others might need some help and encouragement so she started leaving her funny and thought-provoking handwritten notes on lamp posts and in parks for others to find.

Since then, the Sticky Fairy’s videos have over 50 million views across her social platforms (@thestickyfairy) and this exhibition will be the first to delight a much larger audience, part of Network Rail’s mission to improve people’s experience of travelling through London Bridge.

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, hundreds of handwritten notes are being displayed in one of London’s busiest stations, on the lower concourse next to the help desk and the upper concourse opposite the ticket counter.

The communal exhibition will encourage passengers and visitors alike not to underestimate the power of a small, kind gesture and to take care of their own, and others mental health.

Stephanie said: “After a-year-and-a-half of walking the streets and leaving thousands of notes behind me, it’s lovely to finally have a physical space to showcase the work I do.

“Creating the Stardust exhibition is an opportunity to spread joy like ‘mental confetti’ with thoughtful takeaways that last throughout the year and beyond, unlike the notes I left in other public places which were often only temporary.

“There was also a more serious reason for wanting to display my notes at a train station. I wondered if a sticky note could possibly be enough to interrupt someone’s suicidal thoughts and save someone's life.

“I really hope the exhibition will benefit railway staff, travellers and anyone passing through the station in need of a dose of happiness and maybe just a giggle. Humour is essential for talking about serious matters to a wider audience.”

Imelda Cox, a shift station manager at London Bridge, helped bring the exhibition to the station.

She said: “Since I started working for Network Rail, I’ve been passionate about bringing more artwork and creative projects into the station and collaborating with the Sticky Fairy is an opportunity to make people smile and get people talking about their mental health.”

The exhibition comes soon after Network Rail joined Samaritans, British Transport Police and the wider rail industry to remind the public that we all have the potential to be lifesavers by simply striking up a conversation – part of Samaritan’s Small Talk Saves Lives campaign.

For more information and tips, visit Samaritans.org/smalltalksaveslives
If you are struggling and need to speak to somebody, please call The Samaritans on 116 123