- Book extract
- Book extract
Naked, not nude
Classicist Caroline Vout argues that it’s time to take the dust covers off the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and to encounter their bodies not nude, but naked.
- Article
- Article
Pain, politics and the power of photography
Art historian Giulia Smith explains what she most admires in the work of Jo Spence and Oreet Ashery, and how their approach makes illness political.
- Article
- Article
Daniel Regan on using photography to manage emotions
Artist Daniel Regan manages his emotions and stays grounded through photography, allowing him to engage in the world around him.
- Article
- Article
Photographs as evidence of gender identity and sexuality
Intriguing photographs from sexologists’ archives suggest they could have helped people explore their gender identity and sexuality.
- Article
- Article
The ‘epileptic’ in art and science
From scarred outsiders in literature to the cold voyeurism of medical films and photography, people who experience seizures and epilepsy are rarely shown in a compassionate light in popular culture.
- Short film
- Short film
The power of art
For Carrie Ravenscroft, both the techniques and content of her art are expressions of the workings of her neurodivergent mind.
- Article
- Article
The enduring myth of the mad genius
There’s a fine line to tread between creativity and psychosis.
- Article
- Article
The making of ‘Quacks’
How do you create a medical comedy that’s authentic and laugh-out-loud funny?
- Article
- Article
Reversing the psychiatric gaze
Nineteenth-century psychiatrists were keen to categorise their patients’ illnesses reductively – by their physical appearance. But we can see a far more complex picture of mental distress, revealed by those patients able to express their inner worlds in art.
- Article
- Article
The art of scientific glassblowing
Exciting things happen when art, craft, engineering and science collide. Glassblower Gayle Price is proof of that.
- Article
- Article
Native Americans and the dehumanising force of the photograph
In the second part of Native Americans through the 19th-century lens, we delve deeper into the ambivalent messages within the images.
- Interview
- Interview
Inside the mind of George Vasey, co-curator of Misbehaving Bodies
Discover how curator George Vasey honoured the approaches of Jo Spence and Oreet Ashery, who mischievously subvert clichés around illness and death.
- Article
- Article
Spanish flu and the depiction of disease
The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 killed many millions more than World War I did. Find out why contemporary artistic depictions of its devastating impact are so rare.
- Article
- Article
Dynamo on the past, present and future of magic
The magician takes a tour and shares stories of history and inspiration.
- Interview
- Interview
Inside the mind of Somewhere in Between’s curator, Laurie Britton Newell
The exhibition's curator shares her secrets.
- Article
- Article
The smile catchers
From facial recognition to emojis in apps, find out how the monitoring of emotions is used to get more out of workers.
- Article
- Article
A creative collaboration with compulsion
Discover how artist Liz Atkin has channelled the compulsion to pick her skin into an imaginative outlet for her feelings.
- Article
- Article
Mary Bishop and the surveillant gaze
Writer and artist Rose Ruane explores the paintings of Mary Bishop, created during a 30-year stay in a psychiatric hospital, which speak of constant medical surveillance and censorious self-examination.
- Article
- Article
The relationship between science and art
Often seen as opposites, science and art both depend on observation and synthesis.
- Article
- Article
Native Americans through the 19th-century lens
The stories behind Rinehart's photographs may not be as black and white as they first appear.
- Article
- Article
The Key to Memory: Write it down
Nick Dent explores what the Library of the Human Genome can tell us about how and why we remember.
- Article
- Article
The Key to Memory: Follow your nose
Elissavet Ntoulia explores what a pair of pomanders can tell us about how and why we remember.
- Short film
- Short film
Loss and grieving
In this artwork Carrie Ravenscroft delves into the complex feelings of grief and loss that were triggered by the death of her aunt during the Covid pandemic.
- Short film
- Short film
Gender gap
In this artwork, Carrie Ravenscroft considers how her personal struggles with having ADHD relate to the wider challenges of being neurodivergent and female.
- Short film
- Short film
Imagining a more inclusive world
An official diagnosis for ADHD has given artist Carrie Ravenscroft so much more than the medical support she lacked. For the first time, it’s allowed her to see a future for herself as valid member of a diverse community.