10 October 2020

Specially-commissioned comic strips on Suicide Prevention and Mental Health for LGBTQ+ community

Oogachaga – Singapore’s most established LGBTQ+ community organisation - has collaborated with artists from Singapore and Malaysia to promote awareness and discussion of suicide prevention and mental health issues in the LGBTQ+ community. This is to mark World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September, and World Mental Health Day on 10 October.

With the current COVID-19 pandemic and the looming economic recession, suicide and mental health have become key concerns for communities worldwide. International research has repeatedly shown that members of the LGBTQ+ community are disproportionately impacted by these issues, for a number of reasons, including discrimination (eg: homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, racism, misogyny), hostile family environments, lack of community resources, and minority stress.

Executive director of Oogachaga, Leow Yangfa (he, him), said:

“Through the beauty of comic art, we aim to destigmatize these issues and make it accessible for everyone in the LGBTQ+ community to talk about them, with the hope of seeking help and offering empathy and support for those around us.”

The comic strips were gradually released in September and October on social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). The full set is available below.

We thank the talented artists involved for their heartfelt work on this series:

Andre D’Rozario @ayforandre on Instagram

Ann Li Khaw @annlikhaw on Instagram

Farid Nad @farideacs on Twitter

Nicolette Lee @wanlingnic on Instagram

Shika Corona @shikasketchbook on Instagram

From July to October 2020, Oogachaga conducted a series of free online community workshops, on LGBTQ+ suicide prevention on 24 July & 10 September, and on LGBTQ+ mental healthon 10 August & 10 October. The workshops were supported by the Canadian High Commission in Singapore.

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