The mystery of madness through art and Mad Studies

Abstract

In this Current Issues article I explore how the world of art can show a different view on ‘madness’. Mad Studies, as an emergent academic field, has the possibility to offer alternative and contrasting views on madness. I argue that the current bio-medical model where ‘madness’ is reduced to ‘mental illness’ denies us the possibility to hear different views and see a person behind a diagnosis. The art world, through visual representation, can present us with an ‘unknown’ factor of ‘madness’ where madness remains a mystery that we will never truly grasp. Visual art can also depict the real human beings and real stories behind ‘diagnoses’.