URSO

Roadmap for Mental Health at maat with Anabela Soares

In partnership with: Manicómio

A cry from childhood.
It is impossible not to talk about love and happiness or simply its absence in Anabela Soares' work.
That is why this teddy bear represents a second opportunity for Anabela. A second childhood. It is here where she places her monsters, in a perfect embrace.
This bear is a shortcut for love, a gesture of happiness, self-esteem, hate. It is anger. It is Anabela’s statement.
This is Anabela’s teddy bear.

– José Azevedo and Sandro Resende, founders of Manicómio

Roadmap for Mental Health
maat joins Manicómio to think about the role of museums in what concerns mental health illnesses, as well as in reducing stigma surrounding disease. Can museums be catalyst spaces for health? How can they contribute to the well-being and autonomy of people who suffer from mental health illnesses?
The “Roadmap for Mental Health” will lead you to different spots at maat, using an interdisciplinary strategy that interweaves health with visual arts and museum architecture.

Anabela Soares (Anadia, 1969) started working at the Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital’s art studio in 2013. In 2015, her sculpture Urso was part of the Deslocado collective exhibition at Pavilhão 31 (Lisbon), featuring several Brazilian artists, such as Alexandre Baltazar and Rafael Uzai. At the same venue, she displayed several sculptures in the collective exhibition Entrevista (2016) with Emir Kusturica. She was part of the collective exhibitions Insubordinar (2019) at Espaço Fidelidade Chiado8 Arte Contemporânea, Incómodo (2020) at Museu Municipal de Faro, and O Outro como Epifania do Belo (2021), at Museu de São Roque/Brotéria, in Lisbon. Anabela had her first solo exhibition Os Monstros at Casa Família Oliveira Guimarães in Penela (2019), followed by O dia em que perdi o pé (2020), at Museu Bordalo Pinheiro in Lisbon and the Aveiro’s Ceramics Bienal (2021). She also participated in the exhibition No past, No future, The present is looped at Plataforma Revólver, in Lisbon.
Anabela has co-authored two video art installations: Arte and Pátio das Emoções. Her artwork is part of several private art collections. Anabela has been represented by Manicómio since 2018.

Manicómio is an artistic creation space, featuring a gallery and art studio with resident artists who have experienced or are experiencing mental health issues. Located in a coworking space in Lisbon since 2018, Manicómio offers freedom in artistic practice and freedom in the pursuit of individual purpose, intersecting art with mental health and human rights.