DOLIDAS: VISUAL EXPLORATIONS OF SUFFERING BETWEEN ARTISTIC PRACTICE AND MENTAL HEALTH

Acronym: DEVISU

PI: Montse Morcate
Funded by: Ajuts per a projectes de la Facultat de Belles Arts Universitat de Barcelona.
Lenght: July 2023 – July 2024

The project addresses the visual representation of certain sufferings linked to mental health and other grieving processes, generally invisibilised or whose representation contributes to the stigmatization of certain people and groups, most of them clearly marked by gender.

This project connects with previous research and projects carried out by the PI and other members of the team, whose central elements have been the visual representation of pain and grief, illness narratives and the ethics of images of illness, death and grief. On this occasion, the main element of the research, suffering, delves into new territories and contexts thereof, transcending the field of illness, such as the visual representation of certain areas that concern mental health, obstetric violence, among others. One of the main objectives is to contribute to a more diverse and destigmatized representation of the suffering of certain individuals and groups who suffer from a marked visual underrepresentation of their reality or whose condition has been represented in a stereotypical manner, contributing to the minimization, stigmatization or denial of their suffering and pain. On the other hand, the project investigates from an art-based research, the various images and contemporary photographic practices linked to this type of images, and their use, publication and circulation and their capacity as a mediator for debate and change in the perception of certain sufferings.