Midterm Intervention - Bell ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜.ᐟ

Conversations around mental health conditions and their symptoms have increased throughout the years, yet despite this, the stigma surrounding much of the diagnoses has remained the same - especially in regard to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Defined as a condition where individuals struggle with shifting emotional intensities and difficulty with regulation, it remains highly stigmatized and often misunderstood. Diagnosed individuals face judgement rather than empathy and experience harmful narratives that force individuals to remain silent of their struggles. The art intervention I created is meant to center on BPD specifically, raising awareness for this condition and mental health overall. With this in mind, I created a faux patron saint figure, coined as Mother Perscissa, with her named derived from persona scissa (latin for “split mask/split personality) as it is meant to represent individuals and the often intense emotional experiences associated with the condition - identity instability and emotional volatility being the main focus. To simplify the image, it takes inspiration from the comedy and tragedy masks often meant to symbolize the duality of the human experience inspiration from the Japanese “three-faces” meant to symbolize the different personas we show the world, and especially take inspiration from the Trifacial Trinity, a symbolic religious iconography depicting Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Saints are typically associated with reverence and moral authority, a contrast to how many view those struggling with any mental illness. Designed to be reminiscent in that traditional devotional style seen in prayer cards at church (or even on old lady’s facebook posts), it is meant to hold its own “religious iconography” and disrupt the narrative of what we sanctify versus what we stigmatize, challenging the idea of what can be held with reverence. It’s meant to ask: “Why are some forms of suffering sanctified while others are pathologized?"

This strategy even connects to the Art of Activism, which discusses that “the dominant myths and symbols of society have real power, both intellectual and emotional. Sometimes these dominant symbols have to be challenged outright…” (Duncombe & Lambert, 2021). The stigma around mental health functions as a social power structure where it can determine who may be worthy of empathy or access. Thus through elevating the condition to “sainthood”, I wanted to challenge viewers to reconsider how society labels emotional intensity. Interestingly enough, this also connects with Maura Reilly’s writing on curatorial art, where she discusses how we as activists would need to work to make marginalized experiences visible within spaces, and even saying that “instead of being disheartened by [the] sad reality, it is perhaps more productive to be proactively antithetical…while dedicating ourselves to disrupting the hemogenic discourse from within by showing the gaps in representation” (Reilly). With this in mind, I created a QR code and the image to be shared within intimate spaces so that the code, and the figure, could serve as an intervention through interrupting routine movement and becoming a symbolic confrontation that raises awareness. The QR code opens to a Google Forms link, meant to shine some light on the condition, introduced an originally constructed prayer to the “saint” as well as offer a space where one might vent, choosing to be public about it (through the submit button) as you would in church or private where they may not, as you would be in home praying. Through using discord, specifically a private server with 1,700 members in it, and posting the image within the hallways of the school building, it allows for an almost “forced” view of the piece and asks the audience whether they’d like to participate or not.

Like The Guerilla Girls, the use of public placement combined with anonymous digital participation also aligns with their strategy of using bold imagery and public posters to expose inequity within the system. Historically speaking, as with The Guerilla Girls and others within the community, activist art has intervened through occupying shared spaces and/or disrupting the silence that is often normalized. Viewers are not just observers but become participants even by stopping to view the piece, or interacting with it. The intervention works as a reimagining of BPD from something hidden to something publicly acknowledged. Overall, Mother Perscissa is meant to reframe the condition and its symptoms not as a moral failure but as human complexity. By merging the contemporary discourse around mental health with religious iconography, the project functions as both a quiet and direct act of protest against stigma.

Link to Presentation (incase of any troubles with usb: Click here )

Link to Google Forms (incase QR code expires: Click here )