Until the end of this month, the entrance hall of Hospital José Joaquim Fernandes, in Beja, has a photography exhibition promoted by the Home Support Team in Mental Health (EADSM) of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Beja.
The exhibition, entitled “Revelation”, features a total of 24 photographs, “selected together with the users” – who suffer from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolarity, oligophrenia or affective psychosis, among others – and taking into account the “meaning” that they attributed to them, says Maria João Horta, coordinator of EADSM da Misericórdia de Beja.
According to this person in charge, who is an occupational therapist at Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Beja, “the exhibition was born from the enormous desire to combat the stigma associated with serious mental illness and show the work developed by EADSM from an ‘inside out’ perspective, going to community meeting and not the other way around”.
“The main objective of the exhibition was to portray the world through the eyes of people with serious mental illness and to enable them to adopt a new form of occupation and expression”, continues Maria João Horta, explaining that the exhibition also has “an educational aspect for the general public, through the provision of flyers with a description of the pathologies associated with the users monitored”.
Tags: Exhibition Beja shows mental illness photography
