Yoon Hee Lamot
FAS CINATED WITH THE OTHER
Imagination and Psychiatry
Imagination and psychiatry are closely linked. The first psy chiatrists drew or painted portraits of their patients to illustrate specific syndromes. It is no surprise then that photography and psychiatry arose at about the same time. Photography was regarded as a useful tool in the observation of patients: their behaviour, facial expressions and uncontrolled movements appealed to the imagination and were recorded as accurately as possible. However, patients themselves also created pictures and drawings. When doctors began to pay attention to the visual creations that arose within the walls of the hospital, it was the start of what is now called outsider art. The term is drawn from the publication of the same name written by Roger Cardinal in 1972. It means more than just art made by psychiatric patients. Cardinal used the word as a synonym for art brut (raw or rough art), a concept coined by Jean Dubuffet in 1945. Dubuffet also looked beyond the hospital walls for ‘authentic’ art, which, for him, was separate from ‘cultural’ art. The term outsider art now covers an endless spectrum of sub categories and has even become a brand. Paradoxically, the atten tion that Dubuffet and Cardinal drew to outsider art has isolated it from ‘professional’ art. For a long time now, many arguments have been made to abandon outsider art as a separate category. It is a fierce debate which already has an interesting history in curation. Outsider and professional art have been presented together in ex hibitions for a long time, but the distinction is still often tangible. Why is it so difficult? Why do people keep looking for art that, in their opinion, differs from the norm? The answer can be found in people’s fascination.
F A S C I N AT E D W I T H T H E O T H E R — 111
