Anxiety during the Covid pandemic, in combination with the worsened economy and society, has caused Thai people an apparent depression. For someone in the media who has been following the social movement, Best – Wattanapume Laisuwanchai the co-founder of Eyedropper Fill, have recreated the Conne(x)t again. This time the project is about the mentality of depression patients through a documentary video installation under the name “Mental-verse.”

With the Conne(x)t Klongtoey previous project, the Eyedropper Fill team had used the process of art as a tool to address education inequality issues. Presenting pieces of stories of the young people from Klongtoey with the photography, fashion, rap, and tattoo lessons in an exhibition at Bangkok Design Week 2019 and developed further into production of a documentary film “School Town King”, the 29th Suphannahongsa National Film Awards winner in Best Documentary and Best Film from Kom Chad Luek Awards in 2020.  

The starting point into the Mental-verse

“The initial idea for this project is because I have seen many friends around me have had depression in the past 1-2 years. Some have turned completely from happy into ill people. As a person who works in the media and design field, I started to think about what I could do. Is it possible to convey these people’s stories? This project wants to take visitors who might have friends or people around them who have depression to understand the cause of this illness better.” 

“One thing we discovered is that for one to have depression, it is not caused by the individual. When one finds out that someone has depression, their personality usually comes into question. After the interviews with three people from different generations who have depression, we found out that all of them are affected by their social environment. For instance, the Gen Z who grew up during the period of Thai economic collapse which caused their parents to spend less time to take care of them and have to face several family problems, or the Baby Boomer who is my mother, who grew up in a Chinese patriarch family and had to endure a bad husband. I find that these thoughts and social environment are the causes of depression.”

Reflection of what’s inside the mind

The main showcase of the Mental-verse exhibition is a documentary video installation that lets the subjects express their stories fully, “We gave our three subjects a camera to allow them to be a part of their stories they’re telling. So, we learn how different the perspectives of people with depression are from ours, we might see the same sky but feel different. The video installation is shown inside a room with seats and a bedroom-like atmosphere like you’re lying on the bed and watching the mental universe inside people with depression.”

The process of making the documentary by letting the subjects tell their own stories in Conne(x)t occurred from the belief that telling your own stories is best, Best further explained, “We used art tools to understand the subjects. There is a certain energy about telling one’s own stories that touch the viewer. It cracks through the boundary between those who don’t understand and the owner of the stories. This way the stories told are more powerful and insightful because the preconception of the maker has been removed as we may not have fully understood them.”

Working with Mental Health Specialists

When asked about the difference in working process with more delicate issues than general documentaries, Best answered, “We had a pre-workshop with the subjects accompanied by an art therapist who assisted and took care of them during the process. As for the set of questions for the subjects and how the documentary is edited, the content has to be consulted by a psychiatrist specialising in depression. To avoid triggering bad experiences and upset the viewer and the subjects, we have done extensive research on the subjects to ensure that they’re under medical care and at the stage in mind that it is fine to tell their stories.

Sounding Out to the Society that In Need of Healing

 Aside from showing documentary video installations, Eyedropper Fill team has also prepared an activity for viewers to share their own stories to create awareness and help heal the mental wound during this hard situation. “The social environment not only affected those with depression, all the people, in general, are also affected. Last year, the pandemic issue caused people to lose their jobs which lead to the deterioration in mental health overall. Although this piece of work is telling the stories of people with depression it is not clear cut. To some degree, we are probably experiencing family issues like the subjects as well. Lastly, we found out that this piece is not only for people with depression but for everyone in the society who are also experiencing the same issue.”  

“Mental-verse” is exhibiting on the 2nd floor, River City Bangkok on 5-13 February 2022 at 11.00-22.00. Maybe trying to experience and understand the world inside the mind of people with depression will lead you to discover something hidden in your heart as well. 

EYEDROPPER FILL

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