Exhibition exploring the personal journey of psychosis opens in Stellenbosch
The deeper complexities around mental illness are at the centre of a new exhibition that opened this past weekend in Stellenbosch on Saturday October 19, by Cape Town-based artist, Manuela Holzer.
The exhibition, Psychotic (In)Sight is the profoundly personal culmination of a five-year journey through the artist’s own experiences of psychosis. The exhibition is also the final presentation of her PhD study and will be installed at the Stellenbosch University Museum from Saturday October 19, until Friday December 6.
Through the works, Manuela hopes to create a deeper understanding of the first-person experience of psychosis. Her own artmaking was a significant factor in the process of better understanding her experiences.
She says she hopes this visceral and emotive expression of her personal struggles will not only encourage others to share their own experiences, but also create relatable access points for viewers to connect to.
Working with sand-casting techniques and melted black plastic, the exhibition consists of three artistic components: the Shadow Series, the Immaterial Realms Series and a short film titled Psychotic (In)Sight. The exhibition, situated in a courtyard, primarily consists of figurative sculptures, emotively tied together in relation to one another.
Manuela explains: “After my first psychotic episode, until embarking on this PhD study, I unquestioningly accepted that psychosis was a meaningless and dangerous psychopathology which fuelled the shame, self-stigma and embarrassment I felt. Therefore, the large Shadow Series sculptures express the height of this deeply unsettling, internalised state.”
While working with a psychologist, Manuela became absorbed by alternative readings on alternate mental states from various sources and viewpoints. This journey, coupled with her own catharsis through her creative work, gave her new perspectives on the experience of psychosis.
A third psychotic episode, experienced in 2022, was profoundly different for the artist. She visually expresses her newly developed understanding of psychosis through the sculptural Immaterial Realms Series. In these sculptures, Manuela aims to capture the altered psychotic reality in a personally meaningful light that challenges stereotypes and the pathologisation of her experience.
The name of the exhibition, Psychotic (In)Sight, confronts the clinical diagnosis of psychosis as a lack of insight by asserting that the lived experiences of psychosis have the potential to reveal personally meaningful insights. Removing the bracketed (In) reveals the title Psychotic Sight, bringing the viewer to question their current understanding of hallucination, suggesting that these experiences could be framed as visions instead.
Overall, the title asserts that psychosis has the potential to become a meaningful gift that may lead to positive self-growth.
The exhibition at the Stellenbosch University Museum, at 52 Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch, will be open from 9am to 4.30pm, from Monday to Friday, running until Friday December 6.
