Wearing their heart on a wall: the World’s Biggest Comic

Abstract

An arts-based project, using a community development approach engaging people in a community of place to address suicide prevention, is potentially powerful. This involves linking community development and mental health promotion practice. The challenge in doing this is that, conceptually, the integration between the two is incomplete and there is a lack of guidance about effective community processes. This paper analyses community development processes to create the World’s Biggest Comic (WBC). The WBC was an innovative, large scale public art project engaging local artists, some with a lived experience of mental illness, to tell a story of Will and Hope. A 15-part comic story, printed on vinyl canvas panels and mounted on buildings, covered 600 m2. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=217471332673743 Conducted in a small rural South Australian community by the local volunteer Suicide Prevention Network, the WBC aimed to raise awareness, break down stigma, and prompt life-saving conversations. Results of a mixed method impact evaluation are presented using a community development framework that considers ‘people’, ‘space’, and ‘place’. The use of sociological concepts about community and the community field, the value of relationships, and listening to the voices of those with a lived experience of mental illness, may assist practice. Some potential learnings and pitfalls in using a community development approach in mental health promotion are discussed.