Notes on Humiliation

By Cally Spooner

Are we hysterical?

‘Hysteria’ is a discredited medical term that has resurfaced in everyday language and contemporary politics, and recently it has been increasingly used in the press. Spooner collaborated with Isabel Valli from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London to explore the medical reference to hysteria in contemporary culture and to draw parallels in society and politics.

The poster series combines extracts from Spooner’s interview with Valli with drawings of human organs that produce the stress hormone, cortisol. Notes on Humiliation explores how diagnosis and clinical definitions of mental health problems have shifted over time, and identifies that anxiety is a relatively recent term in medical terminology.

About the contributor(s)

Cally Spooner

Cally Spooner's work is generated through writing and unfolds as installation, sculpture, drawing, sound and performance. Her most recent solo shows have been presented at The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (2019), Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Swiss Institute, New York, Contemporary Art Centre, Geneva (all 2018), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2017), The New Museum, New York, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (both 2016).

Isabel Valli

Isabel Valli is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist. She is currently Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow at the University of Barcelona and visiting lecturer in the department of Psychosis Studies at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. She is a specialist in the treatment of psychosis and has worked as a consultant psychiatrist in first episode psychosis services within the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Her research uses neuroimaging techniques to study the brain mechanisms associated with high-risk states for psychosis and their potential use for the early identification of vulnerable individuals. She has established collaborations with artists and theatre makers for the development of multidisciplinary projects.

Image: Notes On Humiliation (2017). Courtesy of the artist, gb agency Paris and ZERO… Milan