Ambitious digital exhibition calls for action after 50 years of mental health inequalities

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 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, 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), Alison Lowe OBE (West Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime), Arfan Hanif (CEO, Touchstone) and Marvina Eseoghene Newton (Co-Founder, Leeds Black Lives Matter) are among those profiled.

Professor Emily Zobel Marshall, Co-Chair, David Oluwale Memorial Association, said: “It’s key that the often-silenced voices of those suffering from mental health inequalities areamplified. Racial justice, especially in terms of mental health, means a commitment to deep-rooted structural change, which takes time and financial investment, as well as listening to those with lived experiences. It’s important that the projects committed to these changes have a long-lasting legacy.”

Co-founded by Synergi-Leeds and Words of Colour in partnership with Leeds City Council / Public Health and Forum Central, the 12-month hybrid programme and exhibition were co-produced with Touchstone Leeds, Heritage Corner and Leeds Young Authors’ Artistic Director Khadijah Ibrahiim.

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.

Dr Sara Munro, CEO, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I feel proud and humbled to be part of the Remembering What’s Forgotten exhibition. It’s also timely as we launch our first ever Trust strategy to address health inequalities. A key pillar of this is being anti-racist and building on our work to address racial inequalities in people’s access, experiences and outcomes from the services we provide.”

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.

Dean Matheson, Director of Calm and Centred, said: “We are passionate about Remembering What’s Forgotten’s aim to highlight the overrepresentation of Black men in inpatient wards and their disproportionate detention under the Mental Health Act. My biggest hope is that we see a real and genuine paradigm shift, for the better, and from each member of society, in tackling these issues.”

Sharon Prince, Deputy Director Psychological Professions, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Co-Lead of Synergi-Leeds, added: “Remembering What’s Forgotten’s digital exhibition showcases the power of creative interventions to illuminate and amplify the voices of those who have been marginalised within the mental health space. It celebrates the innovation, resilience, and determination of individuals and communities who navigate this challenging environment.”

Remembering What’s Forgotten’s first lived experience poet in residence Omari Swanston – Jeffers has crafted a multimedia poetic response, centring the Black male experience of ‘bruddahood’ as a tool for all men of colour to navigate mental health challenges.

There are plans for an in-person version of the Remembering What’s Forgotten digital exhibition to tour community spaces in Leeds in 2025. The digital exhibition will be promoted as a campaigning tool for the third sector, and as a resource for statutory sector leaders and mental health commissioners to improve their cultural competency and promote racial justice in service provision.

You can visit the digital exhibition here.