Art and Mental Health

After Colin’s introduction to the site, we were led round Bethlem Gallery’s current exhibition Switching Perceptions by artist Eleanor Minney. Eleanor developed the exhibition in collaboration with Professor Liz Tunbridge and patients from the National Psychosis Unit. Together they unpick the underlying question “what creates a sense of self?” by looking into the relationship between scientific diagnosis and deeply subjective experience.

A central work is Eleanor’s Segment of aself, a four-metre long textile piece suspended from the ceiling. Two lengths of calico are separated by a thick wadding, one side is filled with rows of intricate ciphers alluding to holistic selfhood - pain, home, growth, community, relationships. And the other is covered in a geometric map of the human genome. Red embroidered circles highlight the three genomes that indicate increased risk of schizophrenia, their threads emerge on the other side and interrupt the steady sequence of symbols. The work poetically describes our entangled inner worlds, and the way diagnoses or scientific research can unexpectedly insert itself into daily routine.

In contrast to a formal Gallery space, Dragon Café in London provides a space every Monday for anyone to come and be creative. Declan McGill, Projects and Programme Manager at Dragon Café, spoke to us about the mission of their late founder Sarah Wheeler and how they’ve organised 293 pop-ups to date.

Sarah founded Mental Fight Club in 2003 and the Dragon Café serves as the embodiment of their inspirational and supportive ethos. The Café pops up in the Crypt of St. George the Martyr Church on Borough High Street, and they are supported by Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Charity, Southwark Council, Better Bankside and NHS Southwark Clinical Commissioning Group.

Activities vary week to week and range from singing, football, writing, dance, professional massage therapy, open mic and subsidised hot meals. As Declan reiterated “Every Monday is a new Monday!”. 

Following the wet walk through the forest, Sue from Bethlem Wood Library took us to the Old Orchard which, until recently, was home to lots of soft fruit trees. Contractors were hired by the Hospital to cut down the trees, as the obscured fence posed a security risk. Sue and many others were furious that the historical orchard was destroyed, and she hopes the empty space will be used to host activity or arts in the near future. In response to the unjustified deforestation, Sue painted a remaining stump in gold leaf and etched the names of the plum trees into another, to highlight their value and importance. Both Sue and Matthew’s tours gave us insight into the changing nature of the Hospital’s surroundings, allowing us to speculate what it would have been like decades ago and what it could be decades from now.

Courtney worked closely with Michaela Ross, Bethlem’s Art Coordinator. In addition to her work with the Gallery, Michaela is also a curator and an artist. She emphasised the importance of not conflating a patient’s artwork and their diagnosis. People often try to read symptoms based on the art someone produces, or conversely, upon discovering an artist is also a patient, they become greedy for biographical information. Michaela is trying to get out of dominant medicalised ways of interpreting work, and is interested in art work that reverses this mode of observation. She introduced us to the work of artist James Leadbitter aka the vacuum cleaner, whose practice ranges from subvertising campaigns to performance. His interventions highlight social inequity, including the Disability Awareness Document he keeps available on his contact page, which outlines the way in which he would like to be treated.

Michaela also introduced us to Mr X, a long-term resident of the Hospital, who makes brilliant cardboard structures which he then mounts on wheels and carts around the grounds of the Hospital. He initially started making this work in his room, using his key to cut the cardboard. When staff began to take notice, they tried to contain his practice by only allowing his sculptures to be a certain size - he used the lengths of his arms and legs to measure the edges, so much of Mr X’s early work has very human proportions. After various arts organisations began to take notice of his work, hospital staff began to see his work as valuable and allowed him to create his work more freely. Michaela talked about the danger of staff, including herself, imposing their own anxieties and limitations on artists.