Psychosomatic Imagery

This book explores the potential of specific photographic images for reflecting on experiences of mental disorders. Instead of looking at photographs of (people suffering from) mental disorders, this volume aspires to comprehend the complexities of such conditions through photographic lexicons, metaphors, and practices. For this book, a mental disorder is not to be seen as a dysfunction or impairment, but a state in which the sustaining balance of stable and unstable mind is unsettled, which may induce mental/bodily disturbances. The term psychosomatic refers to the interaction of the mind (psyche) with the body (soma); it refers to their co-dependence. By the term Psychosomatic Imagery this volume refers to a distinctive trope of photographic images that deal with the body-mind interaction during the states of mental disorders. This novel theoretical framework in photography theory instigates critical discussions about the experiences of mentaldisorders visualized as disturbed corporeal and mental perceptions of the world. While the introduction of the volume unpacks and assesses the applications of photography in mental disorder studies from theoretical and historical perspectives, the chapters focus on specific cases of Psychosomatic Imagery in contemporary photography. Those cases include, but are not limited to: PTSD, hysteria, paranoia, psychosis, bipolar disorder, and Hikikomori .

Introduces a novel trope of photographic images dealing with states of mental disorders Focuses on photographs that visualize disturbed corporeal and mental perceptions of the world Connects medium-specific characteristics of photography to concepts from mental disorder studies

Auteur
Ali Shobeiri is Assistant Professor of Photography and Visual Culture at Leiden University, The Netherlands. He is the author of Place: Towards a Geophilosophy of Photography (2021) and co-editor of Animation and Memory (2020).

Helen Westgeest is Associate Professor of Modern & Contemporary Art History and Theory of Photography at Leiden University, The Netherlands. She is the author of Slow Painting: Contemplation and Critique in the Digital Age (2020) and Video Art Theory (2016).

Contenu
Part 1: Secluded Subjects and Sociable Objects.- Ali Shobeiri, 'The Room is the World: Reflecting on the Lived Experience of Hikikomori through Photography'.- Stefaan Vervoort, 'Objects as Friends: Societal Dysfunction and Photography in the Work of Harald Thys and Jos de Gruyter'.- Part 2. Psychosomatic Disruptions and Distortions Laura Bertens, 'Traces of Absence: the (Im)possibility of Representing the Phantom Limb'.- Karen van Minnen, 'Ghost Feelings and Distortion: Redefining Dis-ease'.- Part 3. Traversing Hysteria and Bipolar Disorder.- Paul Grace, 'Reconfiguring the Photography of Hysteria'.- Eric Patel, 'Buried Images: Indian Photography and Mental Health'.- Part 4: Images Mediating between Two Worlds.- Helen Westgeest, 'Photographic Visions on Mentally Disordered Experiences of the World Outside: Meaningful Disruption in Psychosomatic Imagery'.- Ana Peraica, 'Selfies and the Fear of Facing the World Unmediated'.