With You, If You Need

Alice May Williams

How can sport help with anxiety?

Dealing with anxiety is a combination of different types of treatments, specific to the individual and their circumstances. Alice May Williams shares her personal experience and that of other women who have found team sports to be a way of combating anxiety. A combination of the focused coordination of the body and brain, the sense of being needed by others, and the positive language used on the field help make women’s football particularly beneficial for the artist.

New paintings commissioned for ON EDGE look at how activity such as women's football can have a positive impact on mental wellbeing. The paintings feature patterns and colours inspired by football strips and feature supportive phrases used by coaches and teammates.

Anxiety UK have information and advice about physical activity and anxiety on their website here.

About the contributor(s)

Alice May Williams

Alice May Williams graduated from her MFA Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2014. Selected screenings, solo and group exhibitions include: A Woman's Place at Knole, Knole House, Sevenoaks 2018, 'And Now...Grants for Irish Lesbians!' Tintype, London 2017, Speke of the Future, Speke Hall & Bluecoat, Liverpool 2016, Artists Film Club, ICA, London 2016, An Unreliable Witness, Jerwood Project Space, London 2015, Liberties, Collyer Bristow, London 2015 and The Exchange, Penzance 2016. In 2016 she was selected for the Jerwood/FVU Awards and used the £20,000 bursary to make the film 'Dream City - More, Better Sooner' which was exhibited at Jerwood Arts, London 2016 and CCA, Glasgow 2016.