The relationship between creativity and our mental wellbeing is often stereotyped and generalised. Assumptions are made about the impact of symptoms on the creative mind and the negative effects of mental ill health romanticised.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddall all experienced mental illness during their lifetimes and the highly mythologised death of Elizabeth Siddall illustrates the ways in which narratives of illness can overshadow a creative career. She is often remembered in his story as a tragic muse rather than an artist and poet.
Inspired by the lived experiences of the artists exhibiting in The Rossettis this discussion will seek to explore how can we best support artists and art workers who experience poor mental health and mental illness, the therapeutic role can art play and explore how should we represent mental health conditions in art histories.
Dr Maggie Matić
Dr Maggie Matić (they/them) is a curator, writer and researcher with a specialism in contemporary feminist, crip and queer visual culture. Maggie is currently Curator (Studios & Residencies) at Studio Voltaire and is a trustee of The Feminist Library. They have previously worked at Tate, FACT (Foundation for Art & Creative Technology), The University of Liverpool and The Royal Standard.
Dinah Roe
Dinah Roe is Reader in English Literature at Oxford Brookes University, specialising in Pre-Raphaelitism and Victorian Poetry. She is currently editing Christina Rossetti’s Complete Poems for the Longman Annotated English Poets series, and working on a British Academy funded project examining the connections between Rossetti’s creativity and her work as a carer.
Niamh White
Niamh White is Co-Founder of Hospital Rooms with artist Tim A Shaw, which commissions world class artists to work in partnership with patients and staff to radically re-envision clinical mental health spaces. She is a visual arts curator and Senior Research Fellow at Norwich University of the Arts.
Abbas Zahedi
Abbas Zahedi lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include Nottingham Contemporary, UK (2023), CAPC, Bordeaux, France (2022-2023), Anonymous Gallery, New York (2022), Belmacz, London (2021), South London Gallery, London (2020). In 2022 he was awarded the Frieze Artist Award and has undertaken further projects at Eastside Projects, Birmingham UK (2023), Barbican Art Gallery, London (2022), Brent Biennial, London (2020, 2022), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2021). Zahedi’s works are included in the Tate collection as well as the Royal College of Art, London.