The inspiring narratives of 60 people, captured as a creative response to 50 years of mental health and racial inequalities in Leeds, are showcased in a new digital exhibition, launched today.
Remembering What’s Forgotten’s digital exhibition, co-founded by Words of Colour and Synergi-Leeds, champions unheard community and lived experience narratives to tackle the overrepresentation of Black and South Asian men detained under the Mental Health Act in Leeds.
Based on nine months of interviews, focus groups and creative interventions – including poetry, the co-produced exhibition features the lived experience narratives of 30 Black and South Asian men, carers, community advocates and asylum seekers.
Also highlighted are 30 community, heritage, culture, third sector and mental health system activists, artists and leaders, tasked with reimagining a more equitable mental health system.
Arthur France MBE (Founding Member, Leeds West Indian Carnival), Sharon Watson MBE DL (CEO, Northern School of Contemporary Dance), Marvina Eseoghene Newton (Co-Founder, Leeds Black Lives Matter) and Melanie Abrahams (Creative Director, Renaissance One) are among those profiled.
Project Manager and Lead Curator Joy Francis said: “Mental health inequalities and the lack of racial justice is a national crisis. Words of Colour is passionate about centring lived experience narratives through creative methods as we know the cost of absence: continued inequalities. The generosity of the participants, including carers, men with lived experience and advocates, means that their experiences and solutions are archived for current and future generations, beyond Leeds. It’s been a privilege.”
The 12 month hybrid programme and exhibition was co-produced with Touchstone Leeds, Heritage Corner and Leeds Young Authors’ Artistic Director Khadijah Ibrahiim and in partnership with Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Leeds City Council / Public Health and Forum Central.
Funded by Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, the exhibition’s launch is timely as the Trust has just announced its first ever health inequality strategy that centres anti-racism in its mental health services.
Thackray Museum of Medicine, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Museum X, Renaissance One, New Writing North and Manchester Poetry Library are project allies, while Leeds Playhouse is a venue partner.
Remembering What’s Forgotten aims to fill an experiential and knowledge gap that is urgent as Black men in the UK continue to be disproportionately overrepresented in restrictive inpatient mental health settings and underrepresented in mainstream services that offer community-based support. More than any other ethnic group.
Visit the exhibition here.