One in four people in the world will be affected by mental health issues in their lives. In Happy Songs About Unhappy Things, indie artist Nikki Lynette is forcing us to confront the stigma in ways we never have before. What began as a series of popular videos on Afropunk evolved into a cultural movement aimed at changing the way we think about mental health. The Chicago based project is currently in consideration for film festivals.
I never realized that mental health was such a serious issue until the day I got committed to a psychiatric facility. Like many of my peers, I grew up receiving messages from family, television, and society at large that matters like depression, anxiety, and even serious conditions like schizophrenia all fell under the umbrella of “crazy.” This led to many of us remaining silent when we suffer. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, nearly 1 in 25 live with a serious mental illness… I’m one of them. It took me being hospitalized for being suicidal for me to realize the extent to which I was not alone. In my doc, I aim to not only destigmatize conversations about mental health for people from ALL walks of life, but to also demystify solutions.
