Notes on Madness decodes mental health issues for the uninitiated

Notes on Madness decodes mental health issues for the uninitiated

There is a fine line between madness and sanity and if we are honest, most of us tread that line on a regular basis, even if unawares.

The exhibition, Notes on Madness, highlights medical cases found in the archives of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru between 1920-1970, in an attempt to engage with society and debunk the many myths surrounding insanity.

Funded by the Wellcome Trust, the project is part of Mindscapes, an international cultural program that seeks to bring awareness on mental health. It was curated by Quicksand Design Studio and designed by Studio Slip, in collaboration with NIMHANS.

According to the exhibition’s curatorKamini Rao and founder of Studio Slip, the entire process was mentored by Dr. Sanjeev Jain. “He was the head of psychiatry at NIMHANS. Though he has since retired, he was an instrumental part of this research project from the time of its inception,” says Kamini.

It is the vast unknown about mental health that makes the average person shrink from its instances in their circles. Still, how does one begin to plumb the depths of such a vast topic to present it as an exhibition? A team of designers and researchers roped in a psychiatrist, Sinjini Ghose and together, they dug into the archives.

“It was a time-consuming task,” says Kamini. “Not many records where digitised, so we had to scour through them manually. Trawling through digital archives and opening countless PDFs were no laughing matter either.”

However, in the process, the team discovered a treasure trove of material and artefacts, “we can curate a few more exhibitions with the stuff we unearthed during our research.”