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Racism, Wilful Ignorance and Psychiatry

, –
Past
  • Free
  • Performance
  • British Sign Language
  • Relaxed
A woman with shoulder-length hair and tattooed arms holds a black and white mask of Freud's face over her own, and gesticulates.
Dolly Sen singing ‘Freudever Jung’, Liz Gorman.

What you’ll do

Join us for a personal and powerful performance of “Is It Wilful Ignorance That Enables Psychiatry To Disregard Racism?”. The performance, by artist Dolly Sen explores how racism and being racialised affects mental health.  

There will be a panel discussion afterwards exploring why seeking support for mental distress is often more destructive for racialised communities. You will have the opportunity to participate and share your thoughts if you want to. 

The performance includes strong and sexual language, and historical references to abuse and violence, mental health and identity-based discrimination. 

A Chill-Out Room will be available during the event. There will be low lighting, comfortable seating, cushions and mats, ear defenders, earplugs, board games and sensory toys. 

Filming will be taking place during the event for documentation purposes. You can speak to a member of staff on the day or get in touch with any questions if you would like to ensure you are not recorded. 

Dates

, –
Past

Need to know

Location

We’ll be in the Forum. To get there, take the lift or stairs up to level 1 and then follow the signs through the ‘Being Human’ gallery.

Place not guaranteed

Booking a ticket for a free event does not guarantee you a place. You should aim to arrive 15 minutes before the event is scheduled to start to claim your place. If you do not arrive on time, your place may be given to someone on the waiting list.

Waiting list

If this event is fully booked, you may still be able to attend. We will operate a waiting list, which opens 30 minutes before this event starts. Arrive early, and we’ll give you a numbered ticket. If there are any unfilled places just before the start time, we will invite you to enter in order of ticket number.

British Sign Language

This event will have British Sign Language interpretation.

Relaxed

This is a relaxed event, which means that if you need to, you are welcome to move around and make noise at any time.

For more information, please visit our Accessibility page. If you have any queries about accessibility, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call

Our event terms and conditions

About your contributors

Black and white portrait of Dolly Sen's head and shoulders. Her tattooed arms are resting on a glass cabinet.

Dolly Sen

Artist

Dolly Sen has a brain of ill repute. Because of this, she is an internationally renowned writer, filmmaker, artist and troublemaker. She is a working-class, Brown, Queer person who is interested in the disability and madness given to us by the world. Dolly Sen recently received a combined arts project award in collaboration with Unlimited and Wellcome Collection to develop ‘Birdsong From Inobservable Worlds’, which explores and challenges the narrative in existing mental health archives, and adds missing voices to the current archives of madness.

Colin King headshot

Colin King

Speaker

Colin King is a UK-based Teacher, Lecturer and Researcher. Colin was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 17, established as a mental health practitioner, commissioner, teacher and black survivor research activist, setting up the Whiteness and Race Equality Network for the illegal imprisonment of black men.

Barak adé Soleil headshot

Barak adé Soleil

(they/he)
Speaker

Barak adé Soleil is an award-winning artist whose progressive practice speaks to the expanse of blackness as it intersects with disability, neurodiversity and queerness.  Since 1991, Barak has moved fluidly between creating, curating and interpreting live art forms. They are the founder of D UNDERBELLY, an interdisciplinary network of artists of color, and received the Katherine Dunham Choreography Award by New York’s AUDELCO for Excellence in Black Theatre.  Presently, Barak is the inaugural Embodied Thinker-in-Residence for Candoco Dance Company in London and will be premiering a new multisensory work, SHIFT, commissioned by Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.