held
Jane Fradgley
A photographic exhibition in Plymouth and London, April - September 2013
Jane Fradgley’s evocative photographs of historical restraining garments from the Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives & Museum evidence her interest in fabric and utilitarian clothing, an intrinsic remnant of her past career as a fashion designer. Through held this artist offers her unique perspective; a poetic documentation for contemplation with the added intention of contributing to a dialogue and debate around protection, restraint and chemical intervention in mental health care today.
Plymouth Arts Centre (20 April - 16 June)
MRC SGDP Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London (11 July - 27 September)
31 July 2013, 6 - 8pm
held: a symposium on restraint and strong clothing
Accompanying the exhibition in the MRC SGDP Centre at the Maudsley Hospital, this 'Damaging the Body' symposium will offer a variety of perspectives on restraint in mental healthcare, past and present. We invite clinicians, historians, artists and service users to debate the topic of what exactly is restraint, and how (and if) we can ever draw a line between care, cure and control. Audience discussion will be welcomed following several short presentations.
Participants include:
- Chair: Niall Boyce (Senior Editor at the Lancet)
- Speaker: Jane Fradgley (artist and fashion designer)
- Speaker: Laura Allison (Psychotherapist and historian, researching rapid tranquilisation)
- Speaker: Sarah Chaney (Historian specialising in late nineteenth-century asylum psychiatry)
Doors will open at 5pm, with a reception and chance to view the exhibition.
The symposium will begin at 6pm sharp, ending by 8pm.
Location: MRC SGDP Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, SE5 8AF (within the Maudsley Hospital complex).
Nearest station: Denmark Hill
All are welcome, and entry is free, but places must be booked in advance at: http://heldsymposium.eventbrite.co.uk
Where do we end and the object world begin?
An exhibition curated by UCL Researchers in Museums, re-interpreting the university collections through the theme of ‘foreign bodies’. Through seven very different research projects, audiences are invited to explore the idea of what is alien – biologically, psychologically, socially and politically – and how this concept has shifted across history, culture and even species.
A sword that fatally wounded a sword swallower; ingested coins and nails; parasites and ticks are displayed alongside objects that enter the body through less conventional ways. Ink, introduced into the skin to create tattoos, may also inadvertently introduce dangerous microorganisms. The tattooed body has itself often been used to highlight difference: the way we define ourselves by first defining the ‘other’. Similarly, primates may be considered to be the ultimate foreign bodies, against which we define what it is to be human.
An exhibition trail leading visitors through UCL Museums to discover other "foreign bodies" hidden within the collections, is available during museum opening hours. Each Friday at 2pm (from April 5th), a curator-led tour will begin in the North Cloisters, highlighting different parts of the trail.