Victoria Tischler
Areas of interest
- Arts based interventions
- Creativity and mental health
- Music and the brain
Victoria previously worked at the European Centre for Environment & Human Health at the University of Exeter where she was co-investigator of the Pandemic and Beyond project. During lockdown her project Culture Box sent out packages to care home residents filled with activities: watercolour paints, seeds, guides to birdsong.
Victoria has a long standing interest in the Life and Legacy of Mary Barnes, who lived at Kingsley Hall from 1965-1970; a radical experiment led by the Glaswegian psychiatrist R. D. Laing. There, Barnes was encouraged to regress to a child-like state to ‘live through’ her psychosis and recover from mental illness. Encouraged clinician Dr Joe Berke, Barnes became a prolific artist, primarily using her fingers to apply paint to canvas, wallpaper backing paper, and found objects.
Victoria is now pioneering a collaboration between the University of Surrey and Wellcome Collection and will supervise doctoral student and trainee psychiatrist, Dr Amy Lineham, who will explore the life of Mary Barnes.
Victoria says:
This project is the culmination of more than a decade’s work. I first saw Mary Barnes’s work in 2010, exhibited at SPACE gallery, London. I was struck by the emotional power of her art, it’s dynamic energy, and use of vivid colour. The story of the artist left a deep impression on me. There is still much to learn about her life at Kingsley Hall, her primal urge to express herself, and her later life in Scotland. I am delighted to be collaborating with colleagues at Wellcome Collection to put the spotlight on Mary and her life and work as a visual artist, a writer and a mental health activist.