Helen Spandler is an academic who has been involved in Asylum magazine for a number of years.  Asylum magazine is a publication which brings together many alternative and challenging perspectives on psychiatry to raise discussions surrounding the idea of mental health.

In this podcast, Helen gave a talk to open the Furiously Mad art exhibition at the People’s History Museum in Manchester.  This exhibition explores the legislative history relating to the treatment of people described as ‘Furiously Mad’ in a legal document in 1714 all the way through to the more recent treatment of the ‘mentally ill’.
 

 
Pool Arts have been researching both mental health law and policy, whilst also developing their own personal responses to the subject to create this exhibition. From drawings that one artist made during his time working as a psychiatric Schizophrenia nurse, to an artist who is examining the cultural influences of, and on, the film One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, to an artist’s personal dialogue about schizophrenia, the exhibition takes you on a journey through the landscape of psychiatry.

The exhibition featured an interactive time line, and art works which include installation, performance, video, print and paintings.