Louisa Buck - The Gods have become diseases

03/07/2020 10:00 Room 1 #themph

This research is an original investigation into the empirical phenomenon of how Greek mythological suffering and punishment dialogues have seeped into the way mental health is understood. How Greek mythology contributes to the narratives and vocabularies that are used to explain certain complexes and mental health conditions in a way that maintains stigma. The classics are everywhere, and so ingrained are they in our language and in the way we understand ourselves that we have ceased to be aware of their presence, the gods have become our diseases.

The methodology of the project will fuse text with drawing practice to raise awareness on ingrained stigma and shared narratives that underpin prejudices and seek to normalise the prevalence of varied mental states. Combining drawing and writing is highly suited to this task because it mirrors the concept and use of the mental health therapeutic journal where the patient is encouraged to record the process of their therapy. Using drawing can be effective in pinpointing an essence of a feeling or event, which can evade the written word. Using these textual and drawing methods the immortal figure of Sisyphus will be psychoanalysed in his quest to unearth his metaphoric connection to meaninglessness and lack of free will.