An Act of Madness (2019/2020)
'An Act of Madness' is a collaborative project which was inspired by the few details known about writer Martin Towey’s great grandmother Bridget Towey (née Flanagan) and the circumstances surrounding her committal to Connaught District Lunatic Asylum in October 1914. Martin asked me to collaborate on this project by providing images that would create a context for the story and we published a book and exhibition in 2019. This was the first collaboration of its kind for me, as well as my first opportunity to contribute towards the nation’s awareness of where our attitudes to mental illness originate. Ireland has a long history of wrongful incarcerations to asylums and patient mistreatment partly due to the Dangerous Lunatics Act of 1838 which meant that a person could be arrested if deemed to be a danger to themselves or others and committed first to jail and then to the district lunatic asylum. This link between criminality and lunacy created fear, silence and shame amongst the Irish population. The aim of this project is to raise awareness of our history and how society dealt with postnatal depression and mental illnesses in the past. An Act of Madness’ aim is to create a dialog in which we can better negotiate how society views, recognises and deals with mental illness today. If we could all begin to open up about how we truly feel, the entire country would be much healthier. An Act of Madness was launched as a joint book and exhibition at the Book Market, Kells in 2019. It was subsequently due to be shown at the Johnston Library in Cavan in April 2020 but due to Covid-19 this was cancelled. A virtual exhibition took place in September/October 2020 and the images from that show can now be seen below. With thanks to Elena Duff for the text panel designs. Martin Towey has previously written health-related articles in conjunction with his work as a neuro-physiotherapist. He has published a Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction course workbook and also produced short stories and poems. One of his passions is writing within the context of improving social injustice. Grant-aided by Cavan Arts Office (2020)
