Artist in residence Anna Odell

In the autumn of 2023, Anna Odell was artist‑in‑residence at the Centre for Medical Humanities (CMH). This meant that she was part of the research environment at CMH while working on her own artistic project, titled ‘Rekonstruktion–Psyket’. She also took part in teaching during the final semester of the medical programme. ‘Rekonstruktion–Psyket’ is a video work that explores the dynamics within a staff group when complex social situations arise between patients and caregivers in inpatient psychiatric care.

Odell’s point of departure is her own experience of psychiatric care in the 1990s, during which she became pregnant with a caregiver while under compulsory care. The video interweaves interviews with hospital staff involved in her case with excerpts from medical records and staged conversations with staff currently working in psychiatric care. The work addresses an institution facing ethical dilemmas. What are the consequences of crossing personal and professional boundaries—for both patients and caregivers, but also for the psychiatric institution in terms of professional responsibility, guidelines, and codes of conduct? Where are the limits of personal involvement when working with mental illness?

In ‘Rekonstruktion–Psyket’, Odell returns to psychiatric care as a theme in her artistic practice—linking the work to her groundbreaking 2009 video piece Unknown, Woman 2009–349701.

The exhibition, which was first shown at Cecilia Hillström Gallery in Stockholm and later at Uppsala Art Museum, received positive reviews and generated extensive discussion about both the role of art and the state of psychiatry. The work has been acquired by the Public Art Agency Sweden.