In Our Minds

'In Our Minds' is a collaborative project between the National Archives and UCA Archives exploring representations of mental health. 3 MA students and 2 members of staff have produced works in response to the archives. This display will take place at UCA and at The Nation Archives and will feature in a panel exhibition to allow for travel. The panel exhibition will also sit beside the objects, including a small sculpture, glass work and a wedding dress. It will also have an audio soundtrack.

Due to my mother suffering from mental health problems all her life and presently in a care home, I have wanted to make creative work around these themes for a very long time and was keen to take part in this project. I was invited to visit the archive to look at some collections that had been preselected by Archivists Ann Chow and Vicky Iglikowski. Due to pressure of work I wasn't able to make the visit until Thursday 7th July when I was shown a number of collections that have narratives around the theme of mental health.

Four stories stood out for me:

Mary Smith - 'lunatic' taken into an asylum in 1811
Siegfried Lorraine Sassoon - 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and a poet deemed mentally unsound in 1918
Sarah Petty - wife and mother who attempted suicide in 1917 but instead killed her 2 year 7 months old son
Olive Wharry - Suffragette and hunger striker 1912-1914

All these stories in some way resonated with what I have experienced with my own mother and were therefore of particular interest.

I hope to use some of the language and images from these collections to develop the choreography for Everyday People and have the first rehearsal tomorrow. The idea of this blog is to show some of the material to the dancers to help with the improvisation and to set movement tasks.