As the Covid-19 pandemic drags on, the mental health of the nation suffers. ThisConnect.today, a local mental health and arts advocacy group, has returned with their third exhibition this year to promote mental health awareness in Singapore.
Titled “What Am I, If I Am Not?”, the exhibition explores the stigma, labels and judgements about mental health, and implores audiences to (re)consider their sense of self if they were to remove societal stigmas.
Initial findings from an IMH study at the Singapore Mental Health Conference held on 24 August 2021 found that Covid-19 had taken a “significant toll on the mental well-being of Singaporeans.” According to the study, nearly 1 in 10 respondents met the criteria for mild to severe stress, and about 1 in 20 respondents reported that they had suicidal thoughts in the two weeks before participating in the research.
Despite the decline in mental well-being, the Singapore Mental Health Study 2016 showed that more than 75% of people with a mental health condition did not seek professional help in their lifetime. Known as the treatment gap or treatment delay, one of the major reasons causing this is due to the mental health stigmas in society.
These stigmas make individuals with mental health conditions feel unaccepted in society, and many feel forced to put on a façade to carry on with their personal and work lives. Through creative public awareness campaigns, ThisConnect.today hopes to play their part in making shifts in societal attitudes towards mental health, suicide prevention, and treatment options.
What Am I, If I Am Not
Featuring five bodies of work, the exhibition features multi-media, performative, and mixed-medium art pieces. Each piece represents a different layer of stigma and self-identity, which acts as a catalyst for conversations beyond the exhibition space and into local communities.
- No Mud No Lotus
- How Much Enough Is Enough
- What Is My Truest Self
- Trauma Expression Series
- Masks of Singapore
This multi-disciplinary fine arts exhibition is designed experientially to have participants and visitors be in touch with their bodies so that we can find the necessary healing and peace and bridge a deeper understanding of ourselves.
The pieces in this exhibition reflect courage in the name of fear, resilience in the name of suffering, hope in the name of darkness, where one begins on a journey of unravelling the layers of masks and facades that we wear so that we can be truer and more powerful individuals in our own rights.
These 5 bodies of work showcased meditate on bodily pain, suffering, expression, courage, love, discipline, integrity, vulnerability, and truths that are too often wiped and tainted with the illusions and delusions one has of life. And in turn, we seek to create an experience that brings forth greater clarity, greater connection, and greater harmony with oneself and our bodies such that one understands and connects to their higher truths which bring them the actualization of their own lives.
This Connect is a platform to raise awareness and spark more conscious and forwarding dialogues on mental health and emotional wellness through art. They recognize the need to begin the mental health conversation by examining the personal struggles that weigh us down in life. These everyday stressors can seem insignificant on its own, but over a long period of time, it can make us feel trapped, lost, stressed and depressed.
Let’s inspire more people to connect with the emotional side of themselves, and to come to terms with the good and the bad within them and empower more people to seek help whenever they face challenges in life.
Supported by the National Council of Social Services (NCSS), Beyond The Label, Singapore Kindness Movement, National Youth Council’s Young Changemakers, and Funan, learn more about the exhibition on Facebook, Instagram or register for the exhibition here.
“What Am I, If I Am Not” Exhibition Details
Venue: 39A Duxton Hill, Level 2, S089617
Date: 23 Sep 2021 – 31 Oct 2021
Time: 12pm – 9pm Daily
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Note: 2 other satellite venues where Masks of Singapore Photo Presentation and Selected Works will be showcased in Singapore includes:
- Mint Museum of Toys (3 October 2021 to 31 March 2022),
- FUNAN Basement (1 November 2021 to 21 November 2021).
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