YAC Season 4

Problem Statement

The inertia to start conversations about mental health arises due to social stigma.
(a) In the Malay-Muslim community, death and suicide remains a taboo topic, the grieving process of an individual who lost someone to suicide is often isolating, with difficulties reaching out to family members who go through the same thing.
(b) The sex worker community are vulnerable to mental health issues due to their occupational hazards (assault, rape, scam), and society's lack of understanding that sex work is work. This group is often invisible and driven underground, reaching out for help (professional or to those around them) in aftermath of traumatic events experienced during work is a challenge for them.
How do we unpack and make sense of these challenges, and start more conversations on a taboo topic through the arts?

Project Description

Matter.Less is an arts collective that delves into socially conscious works. We plan to workshop and further develop two exisitng script created under the previous round of YAC about suicide within the Malay Muslim community and mental health of sex workers in post-pandemic Singapore. Using Forum Theatre, we want to create an interactive platform that articulates the challenges faced to start conversations on mental health and gain support from those around them by this community. In addition to raising awareness, we invite audiences to test out creative solutions and witness the consequences and effectiveness of strategies in a fictive concept, creating possibilities that go beyond the current state of silence.