Wellcome Collection Madness & Modernity exhibition and Bobby Baker’s Diary Drawings 

Opposite Euston Station - 183, Euston Road, Kings Cross, NW1 2BE 

Based on a recommendation from a friend I went along to the Wellcome Collection for these two linked exhibitions, never having realised the Wellcome Centre was even there before.  Wellcome Collection is affectionately described as ‘A free destination for the incurably curious’.     

Initially, I found the Madness & Modernity fascinating with its video wall taking you on an eerie tour of an Asylum built in the 18^th Century in Vienna.  Standing and staring at the endless corridors and dark court yard for a while longer, I began to find it rather disturbing.  The sounds that accompanied the video were what freaked me out the most.   

Moving on to the rest of the exhibition, I could still hear the wailing and footsteps, but it did get a little more cheerful with a model and photos of a white city, built in the early 20^th Century in Vienna as a Sanitorium for the mentally ill.  The greenery and white clean open spaces of the Sanitorium struck me as a place where people who were mentally ill would be much more likely to get better.      

Art was a theme introduced as part of the exhibition with a painting of Sigmund Freud and various Viennese artists who had a fascination with depicting the mentally ill.  The exhibition culminated with a collection of pieces of art created by people who were actually patients at asylums in the 18^th Century.  The final section is especially intriguing, since one of the artists wrote notes to accompany his pieces.  These annotations are an outpouring of emotion, giving you an insight their world, linking on to a modern artists’ similar outpouring in the next exhibition.   

Across the corridor Bobby Baker’s Diary Drawings are incredibly personal and revealing.  The series of drawings from her diary chart her recovery from mental illness over a period of 11 years.  The artist has split her drawings into 17 stages and as I was going along looking at them and reading her thoughts about them, I kept thinking, I hope this gets better in a minute.  Not because, I didn’t like the exhibition, but because I was so taken in by her story that I really wanted her to get better.  Eventually, at the very end it/she does and it is well worth going to see, especially if you have ever suffered from a mental illness yourself.       

Both exhibitions are completely free.  Madness & Modernity runs from 1 April-28 June and Bobby Baker’s Diary Drawings from 19 March-2 August.  Find out more at www.wellcomecollection.org

Emily Ellis