Painting freedom across borders: How digital art is transforming refugee wellbeing

In a secluded stretch of Bidibidi, Uganda — one of the world’s largest refugee settlements — a young man stood still, eyes wide behind a bulky virtual reality (VR) headset. Around him, nothing seems to have changed. But inside the headset, he was somewhere else entirely: floating in a virtual studio, painting alongside refugee artists from Afghan, Pakistani, and Burmese communities in Indonesia. They were sketching dreams and futures together, brushstroke by brushstroke, across borders.

This is the heart of the Digital Art for Youth and Community Wellbeing Project, a multi-country initiative that uses digital art and immersive technology to foster youth and community wellbeing in displacement contexts — testing new methodologies to effectively deliver mental health and psychological support (MHPSS). Through VR headsets and collaborative virtual spaces, forcibly displaced young people are not just connecting — they’re co-creating artistic projects and expressing themselves along the way.

“When I put on the VR headset, it felt like I was free. It’s something I’ll never forget, and it helped me see the world in a whole new way.” — Male South Sudanese refugee, Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, Uganda

Through the project, made possible by the Digital Innovation Fund, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, worked alongside local partners and Artolution, an international community-based public arts organization, to identify, train, and support artists from refugee and forcibly displaced communities across four countries.

Art as healing, connection as power

For refugees, displacement is not only a physical journey but an emotional rupture. The loss of home, community, and identity can leave deep scars, often compounded by experiences of conflict or persecution that contribute to anxiety and depression. Limited access to education, healthcare, and support networks — along with language and cultural barriers — can further intensify feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Art, while no panacea, has long been a balm for trauma; today, digital art offers a new canvas for healing. By creating new worlds, it plants the seeds of confidence, hope, and resilience. It reminds young refugees that throughout their journeys, they have repeatedly shown extraordinary strength in overcoming adversity.

The Digital Art for Youth and Community Wellbeing Project was designed and implemented with the expert guidance of a UNHCR psychologist with more than 15 years of experience in providing psychological support in humanitarian settings. The project began with digital art training — illustration, graphic design, and visual storytelling — for young refugees from diverse backgrounds: Sahrawi, Sudanese and Malian communities in Algeria; Ukrainians rebuilding their lives in Czechia; Afghan, Pakistani, and Burmese living in Indonesia; and South Sudanese artists in Uganda.

Each participant brings their own stories, symbols, and dreams to the canvas, turning digital skills into powerful tools for expression and connection. The goal isn’t just to teach digital art; it’s to help young refugees rebuild confidence, form meaningful peer relationships, and discover skills that could one day open doors to income and opportunity.

“My whole life feels like I’m always running. This was the only time I could escape all of that and truly enjoy myself.” — Male Malian refugee, Algiers, Algeria

Having completed the digital art training, participants took the skills they had learned offline, designing and painting community murals that transformed blank walls into vibrant declarations of resilience. These murals were co-created with the wider community, ensuring local neighbors paint alongside refugee artists. The public artworks in Prague’s Holešovice district, for instance, spark visibility, belonging, and a sense of unity that lingers long after the paint dries.

Alongside these analogue activities, the project generated a virtual studio with Meta Quest VR headsets using MultiBrush, a collaborative VR tool for painting. In this virtual creative space, the young participants drew, painted, and sculpted together in real time, sharing stories without words and building friendships unconstrained by geography.

In one VR workshop, participants worked collaboratively to draw a lush landscape — filling this garden with the animals and flowers of their home countries. This artwork enabled them to share their cultures and spark hope.

“We came from South Sudan when we were in war. So, by that time, we had a lot of trauma and we lost hope in life. But using virtual reality makes us feel mentally positive, as it allows us to immerse ourselves in a world where we can change the community we lived in into a positive living.” — Female South Sudanese refugee, Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, Uganda

Building bridges through art

By connecting refugee communities across three continents, this project is challenging isolation and fostering solidarity. Following the conclusion of activities, 78% of participants in Indonesia, for instance, reported feeling less alone, more hopeful, more confident, and more empowered to express themselves — strongly suggesting that the project boosted emotional wellbeing and reduced distress. Participants demonstrate an overall improvement in psychological outcomes and experience a more positive outlook on their lives and relationships as a result of their involvement.

As youth co-create across borders, they begin to see displacement not just as loss, but as a shared experience. Many speak of how the project reshaped their understanding of what it means to be a refugee.

Explaining a digital painting he made during the project, a male refugee participant in Indonesia said:

“This is the story of the candle in darkness. I am the candle in the painting. Even with heavy rain and wind in the dark, the candle still manages to light up despite the circumstance.”

The project’s workshops were carefully facilitated by local artists, the team from Artolution, and mental health professionals — designed to be both creatively rich and emotionally safe, informed by psychosocial principles. Artolution provided MHPSS workshop training for local trainers delivering project activities to ensure they created a supportive and encouraging environment for participants. The creative process itself also served as a therapeutic outlet for many participants to turn their negative emotions into something meaningful and foster a sense of resilience.

Facilitators have witnessed profound transformations in participants’ behaviors throughout the project. Those that began with quiet hesitation evolved into becoming the most vibrant group leaders, and strong peer support networks were formed.

The artworks that emerged out of this project, especially the community murals, are also a powerful tool. They serve as public declarations of unity. In several countries, the murals have been broadcast on national television, sparking conversations about peaceful coexistence and shared humanity between refugees and host communities.

At its core, this initiative is a reminder that innovation must serve people. Improved well-being is essential to enable refugees to reach their full potential and contribute to their new communities. The innovative use of digital technologies for art therapy enabled this project to create safe spaces for refugees to foster connections and access MHPSS without fear of stigma. For project participants, the VR headset was more than just a gadget — it was a window into a different, shared future.

Innovation rooted in humanity

“This project reminds us that art is not a luxury,” says Sofia Casas, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Officer at UNHCR. “For displaced youth, it can be a powerful tool for healing, hope, and connection, and a way to reimagine futures, together.”

By expanding access to digital tools and immersive technologies, the initiative affirms that displaced youth deserve the same freedom to express themselves, connect across borders, and shape their own stories as any other young people.

In these moments of creation and exchange, they find room to dream, to lead, and to reconnect, with themselves and with others.

Read more about the Digital Innovation Programme.