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  • Article

A reflection on art in a mental hospital

Artist Beth Hopkins explains how she used her experience of researching the Adamson Collection to create an embroidered wall hanging.

  • Article

Picturing mental health

Ron Hampshire created artworks while resident at Netherne psychiatric hospital. What can we learn from them?

  • 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

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.

All stories (4)

Images

  • Four adults and three children standing in a line; below them are lines of pink and white flowers, above is a blue sky with a red square to the top right corner. Gouache by Sybil Pearsall, 1949.
  • Four adults and three children standing in a line; below them are lines of pink and white flowers, above is a blue sky with a red square to the top right corner. Gouache by Sybil Pearsall, 1949.
  • Above, diagonals; below, a war memorial in the form of a Celtic cross. Watercolour by M. Bishop, ca. 1976.
  • A girl in a purple dress seated in the dark in front of a lighted fire, bows down with her hands crossed. Watercolour by M. Bishop, 1973.
  • A pair of arms thrown up in despair at the thought that there is no God. Drawing by M. Bishop, 1975.
  • A nurse (matron?) wagging her finger in displeasure. Watercolour by M. Bishop, ca. 1959.
  • Two angry men joined together. Drawing by M. Bishop, 1972.
  • Two figures joined in conflict. Drawing by M. Bishop, 1976.
  • (Left) a red bird biting a purple flower; (right) purple diagonals with red dots. Watercolour by M. Bishop, ca. 1977.
  • Concentric circles representing an eye. Watercolour by M. Bishop, 1968.
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All works (2.3K)