YSMA, Art for Health Initiative Use Art to Spark Mental Health Conversations

The Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA), Pan-Atlantic University, in collaboration with the Art for Health Initiative (AHI), has concluded a two-day workshop. The workshop explores how art can promote conversations about mental health, emotional well-being, and resilience among young people.

The themed event, “What We Carry: Stories of Mental Health and Resilience,” was held on October 2 and 3, 2026, at the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art in Lagos. It brought together 25 art students from the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) Epe Annex.

The Health Story Lab was designed to demonstrate how creative expression can help communicate complex emotional experiences. It further encourages empathy and creates opportunities for public engagement with mental health issues.

Conceived by AHI, the initiative recognized that young people navigate experiences involving stress, uncertainty, social pressure, family expectations, grief, fear, and hope. underlining that these may not always be easily expressed through conventional communication methods.

Participants engaged with specialists across public health, mental health, art and museum education through sessions on public health and art in health communication, mental health and resilience, creative expression, and art for social change.

Facilitators included public health strategist Dr. Olayinka Badmus; psychiatrist and psychotherapist Dr. Emmanuel Abayomi; Art Project Lead Temitope Oladeji; and art historian and museum educator Charles Udeh, who led a curated tour of the museum.

The mental health session provided an opportunity for students to reflect on emotions and the pressures young people face. Participants subsequently developed creative concepts and presented their ideas to fellow students and facilitators for feedback.

According to the organisers, the experience encouraged students to view their artistic practice not only as a means of personal expression but also as a tool for communicating mental health issues. Additionally, encouraging others to reflect on their emotional well-being.

Solomon Nkwagu, Head of Corporate Communication and Visitors’ Services at YSMA, described the workshop as an important development in the museum’s efforts to connect art with issues affecting individuals and communities.

“What made this experience particularly powerful was watching the students realise that their art could do more than communicate an aesthetic idea,” Nkwagu said.

He noted that the students began to recognise how their creative voices could initiate conversations about public and mental health, tell relatable stories and encourage reflection among audiences.

Nkwagu added that the programme represented YSMA’s first initiative specifically focused on using art to explore public health and mental health, reinforcing the museum’s role as a space for learning, reflection and community engagement.

Similarly, Chidera Rosecamille Aneke, founder of the Art for Health Initiative, said the workshop was based on the belief that health communication could benefit from approaches that are participatory, culturally relevant and emotionally engaging.

“We wanted to create a space where young artists could understand that health is not only communicated through statistics, campaigns or clinical information. It can also be communicated through stories, images, symbols, emotions and lived experiences,” Aneke said.

She added that working with the students demonstrated the possibilities that emerge when artists receive the knowledge and opportunity to explore health issues through their creative practice.

The workshop also addressed the ethical responsibilities associated with communicating sensitive experiences. Its framework emphasised responsible storytelling, avoiding stigma and harmful stereotypes, and ensuring participants were not compelled to disclose personal trauma publicly.

Following the programme, the students will develop original artworks inspired by the discussions and creative exercises. The works are expected to form the basis of a micro-exhibition in Lagos later in November 2026, with the date yet to be announced.

The exhibition is expected to invite audiences to explore mental health and resilience through the perspectives of emerging artists, extending the conversations beyond the workshop and into a public cultural setting.

The collaboration between YSMA and AHI highlights the potential of partnerships between museums, creative practitioners and public health organisations to develop new ways of engaging communities on mental health and emotional well-being.