State of Mind uses the arts and storytelling to open bigger dialogue with the public and communities on today's unprecedented displacement crises.
State of Mind is aimed at widening the scope of current discussions to more strongly connect mental health and displacement in public debates and artistic platforms. Collaborating with museums, institutions and organisations, we show how artistic spaces and the power of empathy-driven narratives can help challenge preconceived notions of displaced communities, open minds to the lived experiences of displacement, and build better respect for how trauma, anxiety, stress and depression affect people's lives - whether in refugee camps or urban communities. These spaces will seek to transform and interrogate perceptions of displaced persons as categories of people to be 'Othered', stereotyped or excluded, and bring more nuanced interpretation to concepts of identity, belonging and inclusion in resettlement.
Our research will draw on how public engagement, when understood through behavioural sciences, can create positive social change and inspire leadership in the reaction to and reception of displaced communities.
State of Mind brings to the public a diversity of talks, expressive arts and visual narratives, including exhibitions, practical workshops, screenings, and spoken word events.