Focus on mental health: Flehite Museum and Utrecht University join forces

Ten young people, life-size on screen. The common denominator: they were all struggling with stress or mental issues. In November, the photo exhibition Pretty Dark opens at Flehite Museum. Researchers from Utrecht University are taking this opportunity to consider how this project can be expanded to include schools.

Joyce de la Croix, a curator at Flehite Museum, had been working on mental health among young people for some time when she saw an interview with Marije van Braak in the Algemeen Dagblad. Together with Jaap Denissen as co-chair of ‘Becoming adults in a changing world’ (BACW) – one of the communities of Utrecht University’s Dynamics of Youth research theme – Van Braak is working on the same theme on a scientific level. It didn’t take much more than a phone call for them to become excited about working together.

Resilience

As a result, de la Croix and photographer Annabel Oosteweeghel found themselves at the Level Up event organised by BACW to bring together researchers, young people and civil society organisations. At Tivoli, one of the young people was recruited to model for Pretty Dark. Photographer Annabel Oosteweeghel portrays young people who have suffered from mental health problems. Van Braak is enthusiastic about the idea behind the exhibition: “This project aims to empower young people and show resilience. The exposition wants to create awareness and have an impact on the target group itself.”

Art and science

De la Croix is fascinated by the intersection of art and science: “We are doing something that is not at all scientific, but it’s topical. I’m excited to see if we can help each other. I hope art will make young people open up a little and share. It’s a great way to get the conversation going.” Van Braak also finds the collaboration inspiring: “Artists approach a theme like this very differently from us researchers. Thinking out of the box gives you fresh ideas and alternative angles from which to approach a topic.”

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Artists approach a theme like this very differently from us researchers. Thinking out of the box gives you fresh ideas and alternative angles from which to approach a topic.

Educational programme

So what exactly will be the role of the youth researchers in Pretty Dark? De la Croix explains that they are expanding the project: “Our exhibition honours ten young people, but we want to expand this to a wider audience. Together with researchers at Utrecht University, we are developing an educational programme for secondary schools and senior secondary vocational education. In this programme, young people also do photography. We hope that this, just like the exhibition, will kickstart the conversation about mental health among young people. We aim to have an impact on a large group of young people in this way.”

This dovetails with BACW’s vision. Van Braak: “The goal of our community is to improve young people’s lives. We do this by doing research on young people themselves or by having them contribute their thoughts on our research. We also try to bring together three parties: young people, researchers and civil society organisations. Ultimately, it’s about giving young people an opportunity to think about issues. What is going on in this world, and how do I relate to that? If we can make this happen among visitors and participants in the educational programme, the project will have been successful.”