A View from the Inside: Portraying the Experience of Mental Illness

从内部看：描绘精神疾病的经历

• 批准号: AH/I00162X/1
• 负责人: Alexa Wright
• 金额: $ 8.43万
• 依托单位: University of Westminster
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2011 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FI00162X%2F1
• 关键词: View; Inside; Portraying; Experience; Mental

As a visual artist working in an academic context, I propose to create a series of large-scale photographic portraits of people with short-term psychotic disorders or episodic conditions like schizophrenia. These images will challenge the viewer to readdress his or her ideas about 'the type of people' represented. Subjects will be depicted normally, but the settings in which they are located will be altered digitally to coincide with the perceptual experiences described by each person. This interdisciplinary project will draw on the conventions of portraiture, on scientific understandings of the inner worlds of those who experience psychotic states and on the lived experiences of affected individuals. I will use digital manipulation to create images that subvert established pictorial conventions and, in doing so, question conventional ways of thinking about and relating to people with mental illness.The term psychosis literally means 'abnormal condition of the mind'. It is used to indicate a mental state often described as involving a 'loss of contact with reality'. Schizophrenia is a general term for a group of psychotic disorders characterized by long term disturbances in perception, affect, behaviour, and communication. A person's lived experience of psychosis could be seen to contradict accepted notions of what constitutes 'reality'. In fact, the involuntary loss of a 'normal' sense of reality is an aspect of human experience that remains stigmatized because we cannot account for it. The proposed photographs will form an essential contribution to my ongoing project of making work that challenges established conceptions of the relationships between identity, subjectivity and what is 'normal'. It will build on previous photographic projects such as After Image (1997), 'I' (1999) and Skin (2000), made in collaboration with people with physical disabilities or severe skin conditions.The imagery I create as a result of this new research will be inspired by the symbolism and style of historical portrait paintings. The purpose of the type of painting that I will refer to is usually to aggrandize and dignify the individual by showing him or her in an ornate interior, or outdoors as a wealthy landowner. In these paintings the subject of the portrait is characterized visually, using a number of symbolic and narrative elements. The subjects of my work will be people whose ability to function within society has been affected by the experience of mental illness. I am interested in the challenge of creating a series of believable, realistic images that reveal something of the chaotic and sometimes incomprehensible inner worlds of the people portrayed. Based on the physiognomic belief that a person's appearance mirrors his or her subjectivity or 'inner' identity, a traditional concern of portraiture has been to create an external 'likeness' of someone. In depicting both the external appearance and the internal experiences of the subjects, I aim to create rich and compelling images that will bring mental health issues into the public domain. These images will also provide a means of publicly representing the experiences of people whose sense of reality does not always coincide with that of 'normal' people.

作为一名在学术背景下工作的视觉艺术家，我提议为患有短期精神障碍或精神分裂症等发作性疾病的人创作一系列大型摄影肖像。这些图像将挑战观众重新审视他或她对所代表的“人的类型”的看法。受试者将被正常描绘，但他们所处的环境将被数字化地改变，以与每个人描述的感知经验相一致。这个跨学科的项目将借鉴肖像画的传统，借鉴那些经历过精神病状态的人对内心世界的科学理解，以及受影响个人的生活经历。我将使用数字操作来创建颠覆现有图像惯例的图像，并在这样做的过程中质疑传统的思维方式和与精神疾病患者有关的方式。术语精神病的字面意思是“精神异常状态”。它被用来表示一种精神状态，通常被描述为“与现实脱节”。精神分裂症是一组精神障碍的总称，其特征是长期在感知、情感、行为和沟通方面的障碍。一个人的精神错乱经历可以被视为与人们公认的“现实”概念相矛盾。事实上，不由自主地丧失对现实的“正常”感觉是人类经验的一个方面，它仍然被污名化，因为我们无法解释它。这些建议的照片将成为我正在进行的项目的重要贡献，我正在进行的项目是挑战身份、主观性和什么是“正常”之间的关系的既定概念。它将建立在之前的摄影项目的基础上，如与身体残疾或严重皮肤疾病的人合作的After Image(1997)、‘I’(1999)和Skin(2000)。作为这项新研究的结果，我创作的图像将受到历史肖像画的象征和风格的启发。我将提到的这类绘画的目的通常是通过展示一个人在华丽的室内或户外作为一个富有的地主来放大和尊贵他或她。在这些画作中，肖像的主题在视觉上被刻画出来，使用了一些象征和叙事元素。我的工作主题将是那些在社会中发挥作用的能力受到精神疾病经历影响的人。我对创造一系列可信的、现实的图像的挑战感兴趣，这些图像揭示了所描绘的人混乱的、有时甚至是不可理解的内心世界。基于一个人的外表反映出他或她的主观性或“内在”身份这一相貌学信念，肖像画的传统关注点一直是创造一个人的外部“肖像”。在描绘受试者的外表和内在经历时，我的目标是创造丰富而引人注目的图像，将心理健康问题带入公共领域。这些图像还将提供一种公开展示人们的经历的方式，这些人对现实的感觉并不总是与“正常”人的感觉一致。