Mental Health in Museums : Exploring the reactions of visitors and community groups to mental health exhibitions

Abstract

Recent changes in museological thought and practice have centred on the need for museums to address difficult social issues and to become more inclusive of a diverse range of peoples’ thoughts, opinions and beliefs. Yet, the topic of mental health has received little attention from heritage practitioners and museum scholars in this regard. This study addresses this gap by looking at four exhibitions (two in the UK and two in Australia) that discussed mental health issues and engaged mental health community groups in various stages of the exhibition development process. Open-ended interviews with 358 visitors, nine curators and 10 mental health community members and organisations were undertaken to better understand how visitors and community members were utilising these exhibitions. In particular, Smith’s idea that visitors attend exhibition spaces in order to reaffirm their commitments to certain beliefs, values and identity structures is assessed in relation to these exhibitions. This is done to examine if her findings held true in the context of exhibitions designed to inform and educate visitors about mental health. The notion that mental health community groups will have specific needs that curators should take into account during collaboration processes is also addressed.

An overarching theme that emerged in this study is that mental illnesses possess the ability to challenge peoples’ perceptions of control over their health and rationality. This study argues that certain visitors were interested in exploring the confronting nature of mental illnesses. Others made efforts to avoid or disengage when asked to reflect on the uncomfortable nature of mental health issues. Conversely, mental health community members wished to openly discuss the hard realities involved with living with mental illnesses and felt museums were reinforcing stigmatised outcomes when curators hesitated to exhibit these more difficult elements of mental health. This study argues that a balance must be struck between community interests in advocating about mental health issues and the desire of visitors to feel comfortable during their visits. It suggests that such discussions could help to create more considered frameworks for working with communities with experiences of mental illness and more valuable museum experiences for those visitors who attend such exhibitions.