‘Blood, Sweat & Tears’ is based on research conducted into Mental Health Museum Wakefield’s collection regarding the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
The artwork is a digital collage using techniques of crochet, knitting, sewing, and weaving, designed to highlight some of the occupations undertaken by patients within the asylum and show the links to modern occupational therapy. The work is presented as the symbol of a cross, linking to the important role religion and Moral Therapy played in the early years at the asylum in paving the way for the development of occupation therapy.
The photographs of the cup of tea and the glass of beer represent some of the luxuries given to entice patients to participate in their occupations, while the photograph of the eyes at the top of the cross represents the ‘Medical Gaze’ - the continued monitoring patients faced by attendants and doctors.
The cross-stitched writing, reading ‘creative freedom or creatively controlled', uses red thread to literally and metaphorically represent the blood, while the eyes also represent their tears and the natural browns of the liquid in the photography symbolise the sweat exuded by asylum patients as part of their commitment to their occupations.