Ship of Fools

Making my own mental health hospital

legs dangling from under a tree

A self-initiated anti-section action, residency and mental creative space running from 10/05/11 until 07/06/11.

Hackney, London.

May/June 2011.

Anticipating a major decline in my mental health but wishing to avoid admission to an acute mental health hosptial, in May 2011 I opened my own Asylum, wrote my own mental health act and detained myself under its rules. During this period artists and non artists visited and I made work with these people but also on my own.

Collaborator/Producer Sophie Nathan. Supported by Arts Council.

“The Ship of Fools is a creative, thoughtful and thought-provoking filmic meditation on suicidal states of mind. An intensely moving piece of work, it is at turns darkly humorous and shocking; made with an authenticity and a desire to think about how more effective society could be in supporting individuals in the throes of extreme states of mental distress.”

Review in Disability Arts Online 

Collaborative work.

Duvet intervention with Sue Keen.

Video and intervention with Tom Scullion.

Suicide performance idea with Clare Bundell-Jones.

Priest Complaints Commission with Reverand Janet Ashton.

Jump video with Vanessa Barlett.

Solo Work.

Speed Camera Kids.

Barking Mad.

Please don’t feed the pigs.

Paradise Lost.

Metropolitan Lice.

Your Enthusiasm.

Documentation.

Ship of Fools now exists as a 23 minute video diary that is presented live or as a video installation.

Venues