MIRIAD Arts for Health

Culture, Creativity, the Arts and Mental Health

Please note, this article contains a piece of artwork, the title of which may cause offence to some readers.

Michael the Cartographer Untitled Felt tip pen on paper, 20 x 33 cm Dublin, Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art, on loan from the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection

For anyone involved in the arts and health agenda, there’s always an assumption that you’re a creative therapist, or else you put pictures up on hospital corridors to brighten the place up. In truth, there’s so much more to creativity, culture and the arts than this. That’s not to be disparaging about those involved in public art and charged with brightening up clinical environments; and most certainly isn’t questioning the role of the Art Therapists, who have a key place in so much more than diagnosis and treatment. But that’s not the angle I’m taking here. What I want to do is share examples from both the arts and health agenda and from the mainstream arts world.

A useful place to start might be to define what the arts are and for this, I’m not going to refer to an Arts Council England definition, or look to some great philosophical tome, but say that the arts can be anything you want them to be; it’s all about how we look at things. There are a raft of art-forms from the performing arts like drama and dance, to the literary, visual and music based practice. But there is a danger that when we look at the arts, we initially think of paintings, opera and ballet; and more often than not our knee-jerk reaction is, ‘ Oh, it’s not for me’, or else, ‘ I can’t do that.’ Well the arts offer us a much broader pallet than this; what about popular culture like radio, television and cinema? And what about those galleries, libraries and museums on every high street? And what about the work that goes on in our Prisons? More of that later.

There is a danger that lots of us will feel that the arts are somehow owned by a small elitist group, that it’s nothing to do with us and looking at the money that’s thrown at high profile contemporary art, you can understand why. But there’s also a danger that those of us born without a silver spoon in our mouths will not aspire to get involved, consume, criticize or produce the writing, theatre or paintings that reflect our society, or our lives.

So, this area of the National Personality Disorder Website is about looking at the arts and how they might be of interest to you. For this first edition, I thought I’d divide things into two sections; the mainstream and explicit arts/mental health; and depending on the response to this page, future editions will reflect your comments.

MAINSTREAM

In discussing the mainstream, it would be easy to fall into the hackneyed trap of talking about the giants of 20th Century art and their tortured genius; Jackson Pollock, Virginia Woolf or even Spike Milligan. I think it might be a little more interesting to look at artists working today. I must stress that I’m discussing the artists without any knowledge of their mental health status, or their perspectives on these issues and I’m not intending to treat them too disparagingly.

Tracey Emin

Over the last 10 years Tracey Emin has become arguably one of the British art scenes more successful figures. Media savvy and notorious for the unmade bed on which her Turner Prize nomination was based and which provided the public focus that fed both her detractors and admires appetite for sensation.

Tracey Emin Hellter Fucking Skelter, 2001* Appliqué blanket 99 5/8 x 86 5/8 in. (253 x 220 cm) © the artist Photo: Stephen White Courtesy Jay Jopling/ White Cube (London)

Equally famous for her conspicuous consumption of alcohol and frequent descent into interview or game-show chaos, Tracey Emin is both bombastic and vulnerable. And it’s that vulnerability that runs through her painfully personal and beautiful work. Easy to dismiss as self-absorbed, her work is often described as therapeutic; in reality, it is meticulously crafted and whilst revelatory, it offers the viewer a real chance to understand how one artist makes sense of her experience of life.

Always at the centre of her own world, Tracey Emin uses all aspects of her life in her art, turning intimate autobiography into broader statements about sex, love, death, freedom and everyday life.

Her work has taken the form of diaristic drawings, paintings, films, sculptures and written stories, all of which convey the same combination of frustration, pain, compassion and wit. There is something about the role of the artist and their vision of the world, that is central to my understanding of both, creativity as an act that is in essence healthy and productive; and the role of the arts in communicating disparate experiences of life.

A mini biography and images of her work can be found at www.whitecube.com/html/artists/tre/tre_frset.html

Grayson Perry

Another visual artist is Grayson Perry, famous in the broader public eye as the Turner Prize winner who dresses up has his female alter-ego, Claire.

Grayson Perry courtesy of the Victoria Miro Gallery

Grayson Perry creates seductively beautiful pots that convey challenging themes; at the heart of his practice is a passionate desire to comment on deep flaws within society. Perry is a craftsman.

He scrawls savage satirical messages alongside sentiments of nostalgia for lost innocence. His work incorporates art history and the art world, consumer culture, scenarios of kinky sex and allusions to violence as well as images of himself, his family and his transvestite alter ego Claire. That he uses apparently traditional looking pots to address these issues, throws the unsuspecting viewer into turmoil.

The pots are graphic to say the least, but are inherently beautiful. Perry is a fine example of an artist who challenges what we think art is and who we think we are. His gallery; Victoria Miro have a number of examples of his work on their website www.victoria-miro.com

Inner Worlds Outside

The Whitechapel Gallery in their recent exhibition, Inner Worlds Outside raised the thorny old issue of ‘Outsider Art’ and what constituted the mainstream. Over the 20th Century, the term Outsider Art has encouraged a distinction between mainstream artists and individuals producing art from the ‘fringes of society’. Inner Worlds Outside sought to bring the mainstream ‘Insider’ art alongside Outsider Art as two sides of the story of modern art.

Outsider Artists have included psychiatric patients, criminal offenders, self-taught visionaries, mediums and other ‘eccentric’ individuals. Interest in Outsider Art has grown with the rise of psychiatry. Artists like Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, the Expressionists and Surrealists explored the psyche in search of autonomous creativity or childlike innocence, and turned to ‘outsiders’ for inspiration.

Adolf Wolfli General View of the Island of Neveranger, 1911 Pencil and crayon on newsprint, 99.8 x 71.2 cm Berne, Adolf-Wolfili-Stiftung, Kunstmuseum Bern

This way of looking at the art of people outside of the mainstream, as us and them, has obvious ramifications; not least by segregating and mythologizing people who are already marginalised. An overview of Outsider Art can be found at; http://www.rawvision.com/outsiderart/whatisoa.html

Inner Worlds Outside attempted to explode some of the myths surrounding Outsiders, showing the parallels between Insider and Outsider Art, and the impact of unknown Outsiders on some of the greatest artists of the 20th Century. The exhibition presents works by modern masters including Jean Dubuffet, James Ensor, Philip Guston, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Joan Miró and Emil Nolde alongside those of Outsiders such as Henry Darger, Madge Gill, Michael the Cartographer and Adolf Wölfli. An archive of this exhibition can be found at www.whitechapel.org/content.php?page_id=2387

So with this idea that mainstream artists are actually exploring what it is to be human and using their art-forms to share personal experience and reflect contemporary life; and seeing the credence that work described as Outsider has on mainstream practice, it’s worth looking at some of the work that explicitly sets out to support people affected by mental health issues, gives opportunity for expression and blows away some of the myths around mental health and illness.

The Arts and Mental Health

The programme that I manage at Manchester Metropolitan University is actively looking at ways we can understand the impact of the arts on health and you can find details of it at www.mmu.ac.uk/miriad/investtosave

Whilst across the UK there are a range of projects that claim to have an impact on mental health and well-being, there are one or two that could widely be held up as exemplars and the North West Region has a strong track record of creatively approaching mental health issues.

C.Parkinson (2004) Arts on Prescription: Pill-Box Arts for Health Cornwall & Isles of Scilly

Greater Manchester is home to three significant projects:

blueSci

With an internet café, music, dance and art studios bluesci offers a drop-in centre with a difference. Promoting well-being through social engagement and creative activity bluesci works with individuals to achieve their aspirations and goals. Like so many of the really successful projects it’s led by an inspirational team and has
developed diverse partnerships. www.bluesci.org.uk

Arts on Prescription at Start in Salford

START runs weekly studio-based workshops, outreach projects and residencies, an educational/cultural programme and an exhibition programme. START regularly invites professional artists to run specialist workshops with members as part of its visiting artists programme and actively seeks commissions and other opportunities for its artists to engage in, providing genuine and valuable work experience.

The philosophy behind START is that, through positive encouragement and support, members develop a sense of self-esteem and self-confidence. Arts on Referral/Prescription projects are becoming increasingly widespread and similar to the exercise on referral projects; offer people experiencing mental health issues the opportunity to take part in regular, creative and supportive activity.

The potential for evaluating the impact of a project like this lies in both the qualitative reflections of participants through reflective diaries and quantitative tools ranging from questionnaires, to both reduction in GP contact time and potentially the reduction in medication. www.startinsalford.co.uk/

START in Manchester

Start mc helps people who have experienced mental ill health to get back on the road to recovery, using art as a tool to rebuild and reinforce good mental health. Their core philosophy is that everyone, given the right support, has the potential to succeed. www.startmc.org.uk/

Over the last year they have delivered 2 stunning high profile projects:

Now, Voyager

Start mc delivered a series of workshops for participants exploring the work of Cornish artist, Alfred Wallis held at the Whitworth Art Gallery and culminating in a large exhibition there between January and May 2006.

Voyager at the Whitworth Art Gallery Photograph: Cathy Fortune

Royal Horticultural Society Show, Tatton Park

Judges awarded Start mc the prestigious commendation certificate in recognition of the Garden and the work Start mc has been doing in raising the profile of mental health amongst show goers. The garden incorporated embossed ceramic pebbles in a zen-style garden setting and reflected the positive aspects of health recovery.

Individual at the Heart

What all these projects offer in their work supporting people affected by mental health issues, is a positive, creative approach. I don’t think any of them claim to be rocket-science and like any other explicit arts and mental health project; they place the individual at the heart of their work, encouraging aspiration and selfrealization.

Whilst these examples illustrate the direction and success of projects aimed at people experiencing some level of mental ill-health, there are a myriad of projects that work to promote mental well-being with broader groups of people, or raise awareness around mental health issues and challenge stigma.

The BBC have worked closely with the National Institute for Mental Health in England, North West and Manchester Metropolitan University to plan, commission and produce a play for Radio 4 around the issue of self-harm. The play, STRIKE by Amanda Dalton received rave reviews by those affected by self-harm and illustrates the power that the media offers this agenda.

A Path with Heart

More recently, Cheshire Dance and women in custody at HMP Styal put on a powerful performance of dance and drama. A Path with Heart didn’t set out to address mental health issues, but to give its participants and audience an
opportunity to develop through a creative process, sharing memories, developing new skills and articulating their experiences of life.

According to the government’s Social Exclusion Unit, nationally, 63% of sentenced female prisoners have a neurotic disorder; over three times the level of the general population and of those, 14% have a psychotic disorder, double the population of male prisoners and 23 times the level of the general population. Incidences of self-harm and suicide are high across the national female prison population and HMP Styal has experienced six deaths in just 12 months — accounting for nearly 50 per cent of all female deaths in the year 2002/3.

Whilst I wouldn’t suggest that participating in a project like this will have a huge impact on the mental health of the prison population; the work of Cheshire Dance and the staff at HMP Styal reflects a desire to humanise the experience of these women whilst they’re in custody and gives a real chance for them to flourish. Whilst this creative input can’t address the underlying impact of poverty, domestic violence and lack of opportunity; it does offer its participants the chance to taste their own potential, perhaps articulate their experience of life and most certainly allows these women to shine.

A Path with Heart Cheshire Dance Photograph: Neil Kendall

A full review of A Path with Heart can be found on the News Page of the Invest to
Save: Arts in Health website at www.mmu.ac.uk/miriad/investtosave

The range of arts projects that have implicit and explicit impacts on mental health are huge and in the next update of this webpage, I’ll share some examples of evidence; but I’d really like this page to reflect your interests in creativity, culture and the arts and mental health, so do feedback your thoughts. There are lots of
things to whet your appetite with too:

• Aidan Shingler an artist who uses his fascinating and evocative art to share his experience of schizophrenia
• The Seed Project in which patients on a long-term mental health unit are working with architects and researchers to develop a new NHS build
• A network of people, including artists who celebrate diversity and their experience of life through MAD-PRIDE

There’s been a bit of grumbling in the press recently around spending money on the arts and health agenda. It was the usual outcry about public art in hospitals; how can you spend money on the arts when people are waiting for surgery and there’s a shortage of nurses? Well in all honesty, the money spent on arts in hospitals was never destined for healthcare, but from charitable sources or grants; but the arts and health agenda isn’t just about hospital corridors, or therapy, is it?

The work we’re interested in is about making culture and the arts accessible to everyone and developing creative approaches to health and social issues.

Forget the grandiose posturing of plum-in-the-mouth critics and judge for yourself what you find exciting, irritating, sensational or beautiful. Culture and the arts are there for us all to absorb, create and reject. They give voice, texture and meaning to our experiences of life. Aspire, enjoy, express.

Author: Clive Parkinson

Invest to Save: Arts in Health

Manchester Metropolitan University

Posted on February 28th, 2007