Behind Closed Doors is a digital storytelling project that explores depression among young Norwegian women through illustrated, personal narratives presented in an interactive and visually engaging format. The project is based on insights from a survey conducted among women aged 18–40 who have experienced depression.

Inspired by NOU 2023:5 The Great Divide – On Women’s Health and the Significance of Gender for Health, a public report that maps structural inequalities in women’s health, the project examines how visual communication – through drawing, colour, and composition – can be used to convey women’s health and mental wellbeing in a way that creates emotional closeness, evokes feeling, and fosters recognition.

The goal has been to create a digital platform where users can encounter others’ experiences of depression, within a visual environment that invites reflection and a sense of belonging. The content is intended to offer insight into depression – but above all, to create a sense of community: a quiet message that one is not alone.

By amplifying the voices of young women and making their experiences visible, Behind Closed Doors seeks to contribute to greater understanding and awareness of how depression can be experienced and expressed – and how design can open up new ways of engaging with the subject.