WCP 2017 - Final Programme

PSYCHIATRY AND ART

Exhibition: Being A Human

“What interests me is – being a human” said Dr. Rieux in Camus' novel “The Plague”.

“Being A Human” is a collection of photographs portraying people in Jimma, Ethiopia.

These people face each other, share their day with happiness, anxiety, desperation and

hope. Their feelings are depicted with peculiar ease. Sorrow and pessimism are seen in

a playful and airy atmosphere.

Monday to Thursday

Hall 2.2

Grace of human solidarity and

joie de vivre

is what we

should not stop to learn from Camus.

Jimma stands for everywhere!

The story behind the pictures is: These individuals seek

help for mental distress. They are patients at the Depart-

ment of Psychiatry at Jimma University in Ethiopia.

In 2010, Jimma University with Prof. Markos Tesfaye

and the Center for International Health of Ludwig-

Maximilians University Munich have launched a Masters

programme for Mental Health in Jimma, a town in south-

western Ethiopia. Up to now about 50 students finished

the programme and work as Masters for Mental Health,

caring for the well-being of people with mental distress

all over Ethiopia. They provide a space for an integra-

ted understanding of mental illness – building bridges

between traditional beliefs and modern psychiatric and

psychotherapeutic treatments. The Masters programme

itself is meanwhile fully organised and staffed by previ-

ous Masters.

For the Center for International Health: Sandra Dehning,

Andrea Jobst, Kristina Adorjan

Photographs by Anselm Skogstad

is supported by

with financial

support from