Raising mental health awareness through art

In 2019, artist and life coach Hun Ming Kwang was in Malaysia when someone rang to tell him his friend had committed suicide.

He decided to make concrete his plans for raising mental health awareness and suicide prevention. "I took it as a sign that something more needs to be done."

Mr Hun, 28, founded ThisConnect.today, a community platform for experiential art and conversations. "It is my intention to create spaces and experiential art that awaken people to connect to their deepest truths and most authentic selves at a higher consciousness," he said, adding that the rat race has turned people into "zombies".

In September last year, the platform held its preview exhibition at the former art space Deck at 120A Prinsep Street. It drew 825 people over two weeks.

The full exhibition, ThisConnect: Threading Worlds, between December last year and January this year, had 5,000 attendees across four locations in Singapore.

The exhibition sought to create a safe space and to document works of performative, instructional and participatory art.

ThisConnect.today volunteer Megan Lye, 23, said she was greatly moved by works like I Feel You, a participatory piece in which pairs of strangers held each other's hands and had a heartfelt conversation for 10 minutes.

"I listened to every person's story and was struck by how much people would be able to open up about their vulnerabilities, if only they were given the safe space to just be and express whatever they wanted to say," she said.

The stress and isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to greater awareness of mental health issues in Singapore. In September this year, 76 per cent of respondents in an online survey of 1,000 reported feeling sad or depressed, while 65 per cent said they felt lonely.

That same month, the platform opened its third exhibition, ThisConnect: What Am I, If I Am Not, which ran till October.

It included a public installation of Masks Of Singapore, a community engagement project that ran from February to September this year.

Participants took part in a three-hour mask-making workshop that encouraged creative expression, after which they had portraits taken of themselves in their masks. These were published in a photo book and exhibited at ThisConnect: What Am I, If I Am Not.

ThisConnect.today is now curating a book of Mr Hun's conversations with 72 people, including doctors, psychotherapists, social workers, politicians and people seeking mental health support.

Titled Threading Worlds: Conversations On Mental Health, it is slated for publication in the middle of next year.

The book is designed such that every reader is free to interpret it according to his own experiences, says Mr Hun. "It is similar to how a person would engage with pieces of display art in an exhibition."

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Getting help

National Care Hotline: 1800-202-6868 (8am to midnight)

Fei Yue's Online Counselling Service: eC2.sg website (Monday to Friday, 10am to noon, 2pm to 5pm)
Institute of Mental Health's Mental Health Helpline: 6389-2222 (24 hours)
Samaritans of Singapore: 1800-221-4444 (24 hours), 1-767 (24 hours)
Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-283-7019 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm)
Silver Ribbon Singapore: 6386-1928/6509-0271 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm)
Tinkle Friend: 1800-274-4788 (Monday to Friday, 2.30pm to 5pm), Tinkle Friend website www.tinklefriend.sg (Monday to Thursday, 2.30pm to 7pm, and Friday, 2.30pm to 5pm)