Unveiling mental health among the Ugandan adolescents through multimedia art; animating beyond William Kenbridge

Abstract

This study sought to [unveil] mental health to a Ugandan audience as spelt out by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Policy guidelines by (Ndyanabangi et al. 2017). The guidelines mention multimedia campaigns as an effective tool for promoting awareness about mental health however there is no research covering how this can be used. Hence this study aimed to create awareness about mental health in Uganda, with emphasis on adolescents through multimedia art inspired by William Kentridge. The study employed an interpretive research design, and interpretive phenomenological analysis by considering the lived experiences of an art director, producing tools for a multimedia campaign promoting mental well-being among adolescents. It was found that creating awareness multimedia campaigns for mental health required the art director to design a low budget due to the under-funding of the mental health sector in Uganda. In a bid to ensure efficiency in delivering the campaign tools, The Art director explored and experimented with free digital techniques which include AI art generation techniques and human crafted digital art. it was found that billboard and poster copy had to avoid derogatory language, as well as imagery that could trigger addictions, AI generated art was achieved much faster than the human crafted, though often required human editing, digital techniques offered more flexibility than hand crafted work-flow, visuals that were not culturally sensitive had to be omitted. This indicated a need for the involvement of a human multimedia art professional learning the basics of how to use the digital software to aid art creation as well as art directors working on such project need to co-create the campaigns tools so as to avoid using visuals that could trigger undesired responses from the end-users. It was recommended that future studies consider other mental health challenges other than depression, as well as other styles and techniques of creating multimedia art other than that inspired by William Kentridge.