Why I agreed to curate an exhibit of art brut in Porto....

The exhibit is currently at the Geraldes da Silva gallery and will be there until March 31.

Insubmissos (Unbowed and Unbroken)

Richard Zimler

Early on in my writing career, I realized that I feel most fulfilled when I’m able to write about people whose voices have been systematically silenced or who have suffered ongoing persecution and discrimination. In The Seventh Gate, for instance, I explore how the Nazis sterilized and murdered hundreds of thousands of disabled men, women and children, including those suffering from a wide range of mental illnesses. According to the Nazi leadership, these psychological disturbances rendered such persons “unhealthy” for Germany. Even today, more than 80 years later, this crime against humanity is rarely mentioned in conferences about the Holocaust. Why? I have come to believe that a great many of us feel uncomfortable when speaking about physical and psychological disabilities and would prefer to forget the entire subject. In far too many countries, those who suffer mental illness are still mistreated and hidden away – treated as if they were of no value.

For this reason, when Cláudia Reis and Sérgio Rodrigues contacted me about the possibility of curating an art exhibition of work made by patients at the rehabilitation center of the Magalhães Lemos Hospital, a facility dedicated to mental health, I immediately accepted. Isn’t it time that we showed the Portuguese public something of the creativity of these people and, in turn, their inner lives?

I had a second reason for accepting Sérgio’s and Cláudia’s invitation: I have long been intrigued by what has come to be known as outsider art or art brut – work made by men and women who produce their paintings and sculptures outside the mainstream art world and its institutions. Since the early 20th century, the creative endeavours of people with mental illness have been included in this category. In Portugal, we have an excellent museum dedicated to art brut: The Oliva Creative Factory in São João da Madeira.   

A word about the title of this exhibition, Insubmissos (which I have translated into English as Unbowed and Unbroken)… Those with psychological disorders and difficulties have traditionally had to struggle to simply to gain the rights and benefits that the rest of us generally take for granted, including the right to an education and access to adequate medical care. In honor of their courageous struggle, we have called this exhibition Insubmissos.

It is my hope that the admirable and unusual works that make up this exhibition will make it patently clear that people with mental illnesses can be every bit as gifted and imaginative as the rest of us and deserve an opportunity to live out all their potential for a creative and rewarding life.

I want to express my heartfelt thanks to the artists who have contributed their drawings, paintings and sculptures to Insubmissos. I am also greatly indebted to Sérgio and Cláudia, Chief Nurse João Silva, Professor Paula Amado and all the staff at the Magalhães Lemos Hospital. Indeed, they did all the hard work; I merely had to choose those works of art that seemed most meaningful and captivating to me, which was a pleasurable and easy job.