Causes of Hysteria
2019
Mixed media: glass domes, paper, porcelain, acrylic paint and crystal solution
21cm x 12cm
The six-piece mixed-media installation explores the everyday delights that were believed to cause women hysteria in the 19th century and make them objects of science and surveillance. On the contrary hysteria was a diagnosis for men only in very serious incidents.
The glass domes represent the scientific gaze the characters are subjected to. Homegrown crystals emphasize these “hysterical” women as acientific spectacles for the viewer.
Hysteria was an illness concept consisting of misdiagnosed illnesses mainly affecting women. It was also a way to silence and oppress women who didn’t conform to the conservative gender roles of the 1800s.
It is said that hysteria was the illness of the “new woman”, the woman who wanted to take part in the changing new world, but who wasn’t allowed to.