Below is a transcript of our conversation with artist Kimberly Chapman: David Nicholas:
I'm David Nicholas and this is Central Focus, a weekly look at research activity and innovative work from Central Michigan University students and faculty. Last week, we met artist Kimberly Chapman talking about her exhibit in CMU’s Park Library Baber Room Gallery titled “Eighty-six Reasons for Asylum Admission.” We pick up our conversation to learn more about some of the specific pieces in her collection. She noted the contribution made by Denise Fanning, art coordinator for CMU libraries…
Kimberly Chapman:
So as far as the (the) layout, the design, the choices of the artwork, was all Denise, and I feel like she's brought to the table a real museum quality for this exhibition. I had nothing really to do with that part. I make the art and I give it to her.
DN:
How many pieces are related to 1 of the 86 reasons on the list, or does 86 come into play in any of the pieces you've done?
KC:
That is a really good question. Some of the things on the list are pretty broad spectrum. For instance, grief would be one of the reasons for 86 reasons or certain types of pain. My objects are, I do have a few related exactly to the 86 reasons, but I don't think they're part of this show. Mostly my topics are from research of segments in history that I want to be able to talk about, so I am using the porcelain, the tin types, the resin, the chair. I'm using all that to tell specific historic things that happened in asylums. For instance, the porcelain wrapped teeth is all about Dr. Henry Cotton, who pulled over 10,000 teeth from unwilling victims and asylums. He believed in the septic theory of medicine that if you had an infection in your mouth that all your teeth should come out. And if that didn't cure your mental illness, then you continued to go down the body and take out different organs. So that area with the boxes with the teeth in it are called “Teeth Have Feeling Too,” and they're actually wrapped in a type of medical gauze that has been dipped in slip, which is liquid porcelain. The toothbrush cabinet has to do with an actual, there are 86. It has to do with the actual dirty, filthy image of a toothbrush cabinet that I came across during COVID. And I thought, oh, these poor women in the asylum, the toothbrush might be the only thing that they actually owned. And then there was only one cabinet so they were overlaid. The thing about this is that each toothbrush handle is the same, but each head on the toothbrush is different because we all have different brushing patterns when we brush our teeth, so this is called as “Unique as You Are.”
DN:
What's the one piece that that you hope everybody has the time to spend some time with? And if so, do we walk to that?
KC:
Let's go! So, the “Gold Mask Women” were the very first that I did for the collection, and I knew I wanted to make something that looked beautiful and intriguing, if I could, but also, as you learn more about it, you it kind of unfolds the whole asylum story. So, these women are wearing gold masks. That speech is being is being covered. It's she's lost her speech. She's lost her ideas her mind. And she's lost her vision. And so, these three are in strait jackets from the waist up. So, a lot of research on what the strait jackets look like in the 1800s and by the way, women were 10 times more likely to be straightjacketed than men. And then they're wearing their long skirts or dresses. This one, for instance, her hand is completely covered, so there wouldn't be any type of self-harm. Maybe she got upset with somebody and (and) punched them. It happens. One woman actually lost her arm for doing that, in one story that I read. But they mostly to me, the “Gold Mask Women” best describe what this exhibition is about. It's about oppression. It's about losing your faculties by being put in an environment that is so strict and so stringent and in later years just became bywords for negligence. The asylums, due to overcrowding, understaffing, underfunding. So, I think these three if there was a fire, these would be the three I would run and try and save because they mean the most to me.
DN:
86 reasons is the exhibit. Kimberly Chapman, thank you very much for sharing it with us.
KC:
Thank you so much for having me. Pleasure to meet you.
