Students, faculty, and staff seek services at University Health and Wellbeing (UHW) for a variety of concerns. For mental health, many report the need for support with anxiety, depression, grief, stress, loneliness, or simply a need to talk. Every visit represents a step toward healing and resilience. Yet for students walking through the doors, doing the hard work of growth and recovery, their progress often remained invisible.
At UHW, part of that progress becomes visible.
The main entry of one of UHW’s buildings is now enlivened by artwork that celebrates healing, community, and self-expression. Thriving Affirmations (2025), created by Detroit-based artist India Solomon (b. 1996), is now on display in the lobby of the Olin Health Center on MSU’s North Campus.
Solomon was selected as the inaugural artist-in-residence at Olin Heath Center in the winter semester of 2024. Chosen for her background in community-engaged projects, she didn’t create this artwork for students; she created it with them. This colorful, abstract acrylic painting was inspired by her collaboration with students participating in group counseling through Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS), a unit of UHW. Guided by licensed professionals, Solomon (University of Michigan, BA '17 and MUP '19) embedded herself in five self-selected counseling groups and invited each group participant to create their own abstract artwork. She then incorporated the colors and shapes from those individual pieces into a single composition reflecting collective healing and resilience.
“Part of my mandate as an artist is to illuminate feelings and thoughts that go unseen, from the internal places that go underappreciated or from the voices that go unheard. So, it's more of an illumination process than a teaching process” said Solomon about leading workshops with the groups.
In addition to abstract shapes, there are also short phrases and words incorporated into Thriving Affirmations. “This piece was the first time I intentionally integrated words. At the end of each session, I had students write affirmations, and I integrated those [affirmations] in the backdrop of the piece. It allows you to kind of look at it and catch whatever word comes out first. You may get a glimpse of, ‘I can,’ or ‘I trust.’ These affirmations are going to be the driving force behind how people interact with the piece.”
Transforming the lobby of the Olin Health Center into a more welcoming space through an artist residency was done through a collaboration between UHW and Arts MSU. The idea of embedding an artist within UHW emerged from conversations between Bree Holtz, Ph.D., professor with Advertising and Public Relations, Judith Stoddart, D.Phil., Vice Provost for University Arts and Collections, and Alexis Travis, PhD, Assistant Vice President/Assistant Provost, University Health and Wellbeing.
Holtz pitched a bold vision: integrate the arts into healthcare settings in meaningful, healing ways. Pitched alongside a few different concepts, an Artist in Residence (AIR) program was chosen. Data drives much of the work at UHW, and the AIR concept is rooted in a growing body of research showing that the presence of art and artists in clinical environments can reduce stress, improve patient satisfaction, and foster emotional connection.
“One of my intentions from establishing this project was to brighten up our space and give students voice, expression, and healing through art,” said Alexis Travis.
Once the project was selected, getting the artist right was crucial. India Solomon came ready to create something unique for MSU. In addition to having an art philosophy grounded in community, she also has a background in urban planning and has gone through her own periods of growth. “So, I had gotten to a point where I checked off all my boxes, I got my degrees, graduated, got my quote, unquote dream job was in a space of doing better than folks in my family had done. Got the house, car, all the stuff checked off, did all the stuff. And I still had this deep feeling of unhappiness, this deep feeling that I was missing some part of myself. And that manifested in very real mental health challenges.”
“This new collaboration among UHW, UAC, and faculty with expertise in health communications focused on advancing students' wellbeing," said Stoddart. “Through a participatory, community engaged art project, students were given agency to tell their own stories. Art is a powerful tool for processing, healing, and joy.”
“Wellbeing isn’t only influenced by the services that are offered, but by the environments people move through every day,” said Holtz. “When students are invited to shape those spaces, evidence shows it can strengthen connection, engagement, and a sense of belonging. That’s why projects like this matter.”
“This piece speaks to the kind of healing we hope our students experience in CAPS, healing that is relational, and grounded in shared humanity,” said Swapna Hingwe, D.O., M.A., Director of MSU Counseling and Psychiatric Services. “India Solomon took the stories of our students and the care of our clinicians and created something that holds both the weight and the warmth of group counseling. Her work invites reflection without overwhelm and reminds us that healing can live in the spaces we move through together.”
“Art gives us a tool to examine ourselves,” said Solomon. It's beautiful that we have institutions, and we have professionals that are here for [mental health]. And I think art just makes the healing process stronger, something that we can be in control of. No matter how I'm feeling, I know I can pick up a paintbrush and make something really beautiful that I really love. Even if I don't understand it, it's going to tell me something about how I was feeling in that moment. And that was the role that art played in getting me to a healthy mental space.”
Permanently installed at UHW, Thriving Affirmations stands as a testament to the power of art in reflecting collective healing and resilience. Collaboration will continue between Holtz, Stoddart, Travis, and Soloman, who are exploring how to engage with students through another residency during the winter 2026 semester using Campus Health Services, Health Promotion, and Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities, all units of UHW.
UHW offers a wide variety of services and programs to support the Spartan community with health and wellbeing equitably woven through all aspects of Spartan life, enhancing accessibility and safety through a culturally sensitive lens. UHW’s work addresses physical, mental, and social health and wellbeing, and aims to reduce impediments, reduce barriers to care, promote equity, and improve academic or professional success.
The CAPS team members involved in the Artist in Residence project were Ginny Blakely, Swapna Hingwe, , Victor León, Ciera Lewis, Chasma Mathis, Khadeja Najjar, Olivia Scott, and Abigail Waller.
Arts MSU is a strategy that moves creativity to the center of university life by integrating the arts into our educational experiences, our research activities, our outreach, and our campus culture. Guided by the belief that the arts are essential to a vibrant university community that is resilient, inclusive, collaborative, and globally minded, this strategy is committed to advancing the impact and amplifying the presence of the arts across campus.
