welcome to bedlam

This Sunday just gone I visited the latest Wellcome Collection exhibition with my friend - Bedlam. The exhibition explores the history of asylums in the UK, how the view of mental illness changed over the course of history, and the various cures and treatments employed to assist patients.

Asylum, installation by Eva Kotakova

Whilst the exhibition did roam around the concept of mental illness and asylums fairly broadly, it had a large section at the end celebrating art by people who have mental health difficulties - including a collaboration where a dream asylum was created, complete with a model, which included areas for patients to escape and also central market spaces where they were able to mingle together. The emphasis was on the choice of the individual, and I felt this was of key importance, that the individual themselves is central to their own recovery and able to make their own decisions regarding their healthcare where ever possible.

What also came to light was the strong link between perceived mental illness and creativity. Art from many patients was displayed and there were some fantastic drawings and paintings, alongside books and documents from early mental health pioneers (who employed astrology amongst other techniques) as well as photographs of asylum inhabitants, some of which were uncomfortably exploitative. What I felt from viewing the art created by these individuals was how fascinating and unique their view of the world is, many were also accomplished artists in their own right, some prolific.

"I danced frightening things. They were frightened of me and therefore thought that I wanted to kill them. I did not want to kill anyone. I loved everyone, but no one loved me, and therefore I became nervous"

from The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky
.:.

It made me contemplate the difference between someone who is perceived as mentally ill and produces fantastic and skilled pieces, and an artist who does the same. What is the essential difference? Both see the world in a different way, with their own unique vision - yet rarely do we label famous artists as 'mentally ill'... much of this is due to the time in which they lived or were working - and the differing viewpoints of the time. I came away thinking of the importance of creativity for everyone, particularly as a cathartic activity, and of how important it is that we rethink mental illness and its perceived limitations.

I have included some of the work from the exhibition below, alongside other artists who I would have liked to see included in the exhibition.

'wolves sitting in a tree' by Sergei Pankejeff who was a patient of Freud

 The above garment was customised by Agnes Richter, who was a German seamstress held as a patient in an insane asylum during the 1890s. During her time there, she densely embroidered her straitjacket with words, undecipherable phrases and drawings which documented her thoughts and feelings throughout her time there.

drawings based on sketches by individuals who have schizoprenia

by Gert & Uwe Tobias

autobiographical lace by Adelaide Hall, completed whilst in an asylum

Syssigy 1957, by Leonora Carrington 

who suffered from a psychotic breakdown and was admitted to an asylum herself in Santander - later detailed in her novel 'Down Below'