Furiously Mad: 300 Year of Legal Insanity

I’ve been meaning to write a blog entry since the opening of the exhibition. Maybe I did. I drafted this entry on paper, with the computer turned off – so as to be able to wind down and sleep better tonight.

My weeks have been getting tougher and tougher – such that I’ve not wanted to think about, or show people around ‘Furiously Mad’.

In fact, I went to PHM today with a sense of trepidation. I’d given apologies to the Pool Arts meeting prior to the talk by Helen Spandler.

At the end of today (Thursday June 5^th) I am writing with a lovely feeling of contentment. The weather has transformed Manchester into golden shades. I’ve been able to enjoy the whole day; even the rain.

The talk was titled “Anti-psychiatry and Asylum Magazine”. Helen began by covering the Mental Patients Union, and Survivors Speak Out, and other movements composed primarily of recipients of psychiatry, rather than theoreticians and practitioners.

1986 was a notable year – Liz and Phil (Windsor) visiting China was not one of the milestones mentioned; the founding of Asylum magazine was.

Helen mentioned some pitfalls and problems with Asylum (and indeed with some of the movements she mentioned.) Only once, to my recollection was there a probably mistaken assumption that the audience knew of Survivors who had become names, mostly in Survivor research. Mostly, I hope, the talk was pitched at a level all could appreciate. She also looked at the state of play today – attempts to build refuges in the UK, run primarily by survivors. Best of all, was the discussion and questions that came afterwards.

Somebody from the Ragged University recorded the audio, hopefully catching the contributions of participants. AE also recorded Heen. I hope we can make a transcription. It was particularly brilliant to hear the contributions that came from Anne Plumb who has a Survivors’ archive and could speak with the voice of experience of the movements that were mentioned in Helen’s talk.

It was sad that not all Pool Arts members could be there. I’ve visited the forthcoming weekend’s destination: Glenside Museum of the Mind. I’ll be fascinated to hear the responses.

RM

Folly stones.

thank you to all that came on saturday for the launch of ‘furiously mad’ it was a fantastic day! i missed most of it because i was giving folly stone information sessions for 3 solid hours.

the folly stones art work has been developed by me Trae england-shortt (artist and member of pool arts) over the last 4 months.

the project all started when i was doing reserch in the rylands libary, looking for medieval cures for madness. i came upon the picture ‘the cutting of the stone’ by hironimus bosch. this got me thinking what if i asked my friends and aquantances if they could write me a story based in the 1400’s about their folly (madness) thats where the folly stories came from. they were also asked to submit a folly stone of their own choosing. those stones you saw yesterday. by doing this project i have not just shown you my folly (the love to pretend and play) but their folly. all the folly stories people submitted came from their hearts sometimes they wrote about true experiances and maybe maybe it helped some to deal with certain things, some just made the stories up and had lots of fun doing this.

on this blog you can see the full folly stories as people sent them and also the way the project developed for me. thank you for taking part i loved it.

Trae

(Dr Somersby)

the last furiously mad project blog.

2 days befor the launch. everyone has been workin really hard over the past week to get the show looking smooth, tying everyones work together with a beautiful yellow time line. i have really enjoyed this project it has brought the group together and the support from each other has been emense. today my friend emailed me a folly story admitedly late but it has made me think…. this project has not just been about me! maybe just maybe it has helped some people. by putting pen to paper and writing their stories perhaps they have been able to deal with some things or celebrate the way that they are. that is a very special thing and this project has enabled them to do that. thankyou to all the people that put their heart, soul and jokes into their stories.

here is the last story

Custancia Bridde

3rd August 1545

serf

A relentless burning in my forehead. A noise I cannot put a name to. It is only in brief moments when I realise a quietness has descended that I struggle to recall it and it manifests itself anew. The pauses are just there to remind me to hear it all over again and I try to identify it for the first time every time. I know it is the noise of doubt, of loss, of nothingness but it consumes. It tips me off balance and burns and rots and blackens my soul. I shut people out. Can’t bear to deal with their little problems and it is in fact that I can’t concentrate on what they say for long enough before I am back in my head with the noise and the grief. It started when I lost a great love. He died too young and now everything seems so trivial in comparison. They tell me that I have the folly because I have chosen to ignore them but it is they who have it. Why can’t they see the ridiculousness with which they can carry on with this life as if nothing has happened. I want to scream at them to wake up. In my dreams he is real again and I call out to him to come back. In my dreams I am doing relentless chores and it feels like walking through mud all the night. It feels like walking through mud as the day breaks and the noise begins again. They say they can remove my stone of folly and then the noise will be gone. But I’d rather live with the deafening noise and continue to trudge through the mud than forget him.

Furiously Mad – Imran

I started working on my artworks for the Furiously Mad exhibition in Autumn 2013. This is one of a few exhibitions by Pool Arts that I’ve been involved in. I think it’s a good way of exposing our artworks in this exhibition to a larger audience, than we may have previously done.

I’ve found the experiencing challenging and I’ve had something to focus on. I’ve been doing ink paintings for about a year now and I’ve improved the way I paint by learning from my mistakes. I was still making mistakes when I was painting ‘The Mental Treatment Act 1930’ ink painting.

During the few days before the deadline when all the work had to be completed, I worked on my artworks almost everyday. It has been an enjoyable experience and it has been another achievement for me personally.

FOLLY STORIES

Sarra’s story

13th April 1458. 23 years Miller’s wife

Sarra Bagge, daughter of Johannes Milnere, was brought before the physician by her husband Tomas Bagge after accusations of witchcraft.

Sarra was unable to produce a living heir, having given birth to nine infants far too small to survive. Sarra was observed on many occasions muttering and talking to herself, particularly at night, scratching at both her hands and face and pulling out her own hair.

The servant girl Agneta testified that Sarra pleaded with her to gather wild herbs and plants so that she could make various concoctions for her to consume in secret. Sarra denied these actions and refused to give account for her malady and failure to carry and produce a healthy babe.

Sarra’s folly of mind and soul was so strong that she took to her bed for many days at a time, drinking only the smallest amounts of ale and refusing bread or any other sustenance. Being a married woman of good and respectable parentage such behaviours and melancholy could only be explained by involuntary demonic possession.