Award-winning poet Omar Sakr has struggled with anxiety and depression for most of his life as he navigated his sexuality in a religious household.
“I grew up with my Lebanese family in western Sydney. We're Muslim and I'm bisexual as well so, I mean, you want to talk about taboos, I'm already there,” he told SBS News.
Mr Sakr is one of the artists featured in the interactive arts festival Big Anxiety, which aims to break down the taboos around mental health in 63 events held across Sydney starting on Friday.
“Mental health is not only not really talked about in the community, it's kind of like dismissed. I've heard people talk about it as though it's like a hoax, like a western hoax, it's not real," Mr Sakr said.
“And I think that's really, really wrong. I've seen the terrible coping mechanisms that obviously unwell people adopt because they're not getting help. And I've been one of those people.”
Mental health can often be more difficult to understand and openly discuss in migrant communities.
The Big Anxiety Festival tackles mental health through art and conversations Source: SBS
“Something someone said to me once has really stuck with me which is that 'anxiety is a response to a perceived threat',” Mr Sakr said.
“And so I think for people of colour in particular, if you're an Arab or Muslim in this world or coming from another disadvantaged background, there are a great many threats.”
But the hardships have acted as an important source of inspiration for Mr Sakr's art. He says he “interrogates” his personal feelings, harnessing those emotions in his poetry.
“It's been really helpful to me to take the pain in my life and transform it into something beautiful, because then I'm not just passively receiving the pain, I'm meeting it head on and transforming it,” he said.
“I do think that there is something really helpful about the process of writing in figuring out what's going on and bringing things into the light so to speak. But I don't think that that's enough.
"I think if you are suffering from a mental illness then you need help from a medical professional, you need counselling. But this is just one of the tools that helps me.”
Open and awkward discussions
The Big Anxiety’s Executive and Artistic Director, Professor Jill Bennett, said there were a wide range of events which combine arts with academia - including virtual reality experiences, immersive installations, music performances, to one-on-one conversations - to openly discuss mental health.
"There's a real problem, I think in mental health, in enriching the conversation," Professor Bennett said.
Organisers say the festival brings together artists, scientists and communities to question and re-imagine the state of mental health in the 21st century. (Supplied) Source: Supplied
“There is a lot of cultural (stigmas). We have some Chinese partners, and they were saying yesterday that the taboo is even greater in China in terms of the language.”
Professor Bennett said the festival, running for the second time after its inaugural year in 2017, wants to flip the stigma in “casual, friendly, and thought-provoking” environments.
The festival includes an empathy clinic where participants get the chance to step into another person's shoes and a series of "awkward conversations" encouraging people to have one-on-one conversations in experimental formats.
"The arts are really fantastic for exploring complex mental states and distress and emotions, and doing it in a way that is very engaging and enjoyable as well - even when we're dealing with a complex subject matter," Professor Bennett said.
“We're trying to think really practically about how we can more comfortable with not just thinking about ourselves and our own emotions and feelings but also dealing with other people and situations that we're not familiar with.”
'The Silent Killer'
Mental health is regarded as the "silent killer" in society. Nearly 5 million Australians are experiencing a mental illness, but two-thirds of people fail to seek help. Suicide is the biggest killer of Australians under the age of 45.
"That tells us that we need more subtle and complex methods of communication and engagement,” Professor Bennett said.
“So we're really trying to operate in that space, not only to connect people to mental health services, but actually to say 'well, maybe you don't have to step into the mental health sector or the medical sector to deal with mental health'.”
Aside from being an ambassador for Big Anxiety, Omar Sakr worked with high school students at Bradfield Senior College for the festival. The students' words will appear in an installation by artist, Cameron Cripps-Kennedy, called 'These Walls Could Talk'.
“I think it's really important that we start to try to change attitudes in every community. It's not just about communities, it's not just about culture, it's also about class. It's also about education,” he said.
A promotional image for The Big Anxiety Festival featuring poet Omar Sakr. (Supplied) Source: Supplied
"I'd really love to see more people from our community step up to talk about these issues. It's really important we start having that conversation."
The Big Anxiety Festival runs until 9 November.
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact on 13 11 14, on 1300 659 467 and on 1800 55 1800 (up to age 25).
