50 artists. 50 minds. 50 artworks in paint, film, sculpture and print.
Thanks to Mad Pride, Professor Erica Burman (University of Manchester), 42nd Street, Venture Arts, Outside In, Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People, Nous Magazine, Miriam Avery, Darren Adcock, Lisa Lorenz, Rowland Hill, Steve Slack, Dr Laura Mirams (Liverpool John Moores University), all the Talking Sense artists and Portico Library volunteers.
This exhibition includes examples of past and present ideas and vocabulary about the mind and brain that some people find distressing.
The Portico Library first opened in 1806. Several of its early members worked at the nearby Manchester Lunatic Hospital, the first institution in England set up to provide—in its own words—“humane treatment of mental disease”. Here, we have displayed books from the Library’s collection that introduce historical ideas about the mind and brain, alongside 50 artworks by artists working today who have encountered mental health systems or explored psychological themes in their work.
The Portico was founded during the Regency period when “the madness of King George” prevented the monarch from reigning. The literature of the time reflects changing attitudes to issues of mind and brain, and the emergence of ideas that are still discussed today.
The books exhibited here also allude to how the language of madness was—and still is—used to create mechanisms to further marginalise and exclude those deemed ‘undesirable’ from society.
Some artworks included in the exhibition. Click and hover for more.
The Portico’s collection of books on medicine, psychology and ‘natural philosophy’ reflect the many doctors and medical professionals who were Library members in the 19th century. Click and hover for more.
Untied States
In 2020, the international standard guide for psychiatrists and health services remains the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) – first published in 1952. Many people believe that its approach and vocabulary, such as “antisocial personality disorder” and “transvestic disorder”, are unhelpful. The British Psychological Society said of the latest edition in 2013: “clients and the general public are negatively affected by the continued and continuous medicalisation of their natural and normal responses to their experiences; responses which undoubtedly have distressing consequences which demand helping responses, but which do not reflect illnesses so much as normal individual variation”.
On the left are 50 phrases made by software translating 50 of the DSM’s diagnostic definitions into five randomly selected languages then back into English. Using the imperfections of artificial intelligence and the fluidity of language, we produced jumbled, cryptic phrases—far removed from their original associations. By transforming the authoritative yet contentious terminology of the DSM and juxtaposing it with eclectic artworks, we created a space for imaginative conversations around the future of care.
For some, the classifications of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual bring reassurance. In The Collected Schizophrenias, Esmé Weijun Wang—herself diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder—acknowledges that some think of diagnoses like “boxes and labels”, but says she finds “comfort in pre-existing conditions” which suggest she’s not “pioneering an inexplicable experience”.
Physiological Diagrams from A Description of the Human Body; its Structure and Functions by John Marshall
1860
The Portico Library’s collection of books on medicine, psychology and ‘natural philosophy’ reflect the many doctors and medical professionals who were members in the 19th-century.
Life in the Sick Room by Harriet Martineau
1844
During a long recovery from physical illness, social theorist Harriet Martineau wrote “it matters infinitely less what we do than what we are” – defending the personhood of disabled people and those confined to hospitals and asylums. The British and Foreign Medical Review opposed the publishing of a patient’s own words, advocating instead “unconditional submission” to the advice of doctors.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brönte
1848
Charlotte Bronte’s representation of the character of Mr Rochester’s first wife, Bertha, revealed racist ideas about mental health. Bronte used the words “savage” and “demonic” to describe Bertha, who is of mixed Caribbean heritage. Today, Black and Asian people are disproportionately more frequently detained under the Mental Health Act than white people in the UK.
Historian Lisa Appignanesi starts her 2008 book Mad, Sad and Bad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 to the Present with a quote from 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson:
Much Madness is divinest Sense -
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense - the starkest Madness -
’Tis the Majority
In this, as all, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you’re straightway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain -
Curated by James Moss. Artist Liaison: Nuria López de la Oliva Mena and Apapat Jai-in Glynn. Supported by the Zochonis Charitable Trust.