On the ledge: the Bethlem Gallery’s latest exhibition is a retrospective of the works of Sue Morgan, such as The Various Lives of Thought: Fictional Machines, Thought Droppings and Mental Maps
The Bethlem Gallery has launched its 2024 programme with a retrospective exhibition, lyric writing workshops and a summer vinyl release of co-created music.
Planet209 Revisited: Past and Present Relics of Visual Experiments is a retrospective of works by artist Sue Morgan. Morgan began drawing when schizophrenic illness forced her retirement from corporate law in the late 1990s. She has said that “none of what I do is serious”, but the 200 works shown in this exhibition address issues in ways that can be very serious – as well as scientific, artful and playful – and demonstrate Morgan’s wide-ranging artistic practice.
Bethlem Gallery is unusual in that it is set within the grounds of Bethlem Royal Hospital, the world’s oldest psychiatric institution. And since last weekend, the Gallery is less than a half-hour bus ride away from central Croydon, using the new SL5 SuperLoop route…
It is a bus journey that will be well-rewarded with this latest exhibition.
Morgan’s art began as a therapeutic practice to “get all this crap out of my head”.
Extensive: there’s plenty to see in this retrospective of more than 20 years of work
The Gallery says, “Her later works evoke a spirit of scientific exploration, with echoes of architectural blueprints and research notes. But their subjects are often the alternative realities that are created within her ‘mad head’, planets populated by microscopic creatures who exist in an impossible and wretched state of perpetual happiness.”
After completing a doctorate in German philosophy, Morgan trained and worked as a corporate tax solicitor before becoming ill – the number 209 in the exhibition title refers to an obscure piece of tax law she was working on at the time of her first hospital admissions. Morgan started to draw. She was forced to retire from her work, did a degree in drawing, and has not stopped making art since.
Early works made in hospital can be interpreted primarily as mood diaries, whereas later works are more research-based documents about neuroscience and phenomenology, culminating in The Various Lives of Thought: Fictional Machines, Thought Droppings and Mental Maps (2008), initially shown at Camberwell College of Arts as part of Morgan’s degree show, with later renditions at the London Art Fair and at Sarah Myerscough Fine Art.
Draughtsman’s fine detail: Sue Morgan’s works full of alternative realities
The exhibition runs until April 27.
Bethlem’s summer exhibition, Bethlem Live Lounge (May 8 – July 14) will include a series of performances curated by The Artist Taxi Driver. The exhibition programme will feature the production of a vinyl album co-created by Bethlem’s artist community working alongside The Artist Taxi Driver, Tom Newlands, and acclaimed musician Nitin Sawhney.
Other collaborators include soundscape artist Gawain Hewitt, dub producer Adrian Sherwood and designers Warren from Meatraffle, Peter Davies and Julie Verhoeven.
Sophie Leighton, the Bethlem Gallery’s director, said: “We feel incredibly privileged to work alongside these artists and writers.
“Sue Morgan’s retrospective will be particularly special as it’s taking place 23 years after her first solo exhibition with Bethlem Gallery. Her work has helped to shape the gallery and the work that we do, and continues to keep us on our feet, expanding our practice as well as challenging us to think philosophically about life and the impact of mental ill health.
“Bethlem Live Lounge and the accompanying workshops are also going to be significant, not least because of the many participants contributing to the body of work that will be unveiled this summer in the form of a vinyl album.
“One thing that all our work has in common is supporting the development of artists’ practice and their involvement in conversations around mental health. This year we are engaging with so many, and the narratives that are already emerging are provocative, poignant and positively challenging. We can’t wait to welcome more people through the gallery doors.”
For more information visit www.BethlemGallery.com.
And book now for the Bethlem History Walk on March 9 (there is a walk planned for later in February, but that’s already fully booked).
The hour-long guided tour – tickets £3; concessions available – takes you around the stunning grounds of the Bethlem Royal Hospital. “On this walk we will be asking ‘What was here before?’ and finding out about the history of the hospital from when it moved in 1930. Is Monks Orchard anything to do with monks?”
Tickets can be booked by clicking here to visit this page
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