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 hysteria in women in the 19th century and turn them into objects of scientific study and surveillance. In contrast, hysteria was diagnosed in men only in very serious cases.
The glass domes represent the scientific gaze to which the characters are subjected. Homegrown crystals emphasize these “hysterical” women as scientific spectacles for the viewer.
Hysteria was a concept of illness consisting of misdiagnosed conditions that mainly affected women. It was also a way of silencing and oppressing women who did not 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 a changing new world but was not allowed to.