Stuck in separation

Liminality, graffiti arts and the forensic institution as a failed rite of passage

Bibliographic Data

ID2249934
AuthorsLaura Mcgrath (0000-0002-9121-9870, School of Psychology and Counselling The Open University Milton Keynes UK, corresponding author), Isabella Mighetto (School of Psychology The University of East London London UK), Roland J Liebert (0000-0002-4145-6886, University of East London), Rachel Jane Liebert (School of Psychology The University of East London London UK), Ben Wakeling (The Outsider Gallery London Clarendon Recovery College London UK)
Year2021
Volume43
Issue6
Pages1355-1371
Publication date2021-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.13320
PMID34137056
OpenAlexW3164156927
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited32

Forensic psychiatric institutions are tasked with both containment and transformation, with securely policing the border between institution and society and readying patients for return to the community. Forensic institutions can thus be theorised as a form of 'rite of passage', engaged in a process of transformation which both navigates and demarcates social limits. This article contributes to literature on risk and control in clinical institutions by offering a novel theoretical synthesis of features of rites of passage and liminality, as facilitated by an art project in a forensic setting. Through the prism of the Graffiti and Wellbeing Project (GWP), an arts initiative, we explore the ways in which forensic institutions thus offer or impede opportunities for transformation. The project engendered a space for the transformation of difficult emotions and histories through the medium of art creating a liminal space of transformation within the confines of a secure institution. Drawing on Douglas, Kristeva and Bahktin, we argue that forensic institutions largely attempt to manage their own transgressive, marginal status, and the abject experiences of patients, through a recourse to order, suppression and sublimation. We argue for a wider range of responses to the transgressive and marginal experiences and behaviours prevalent in forensic settings, drawing on examples from the GWP

Art · Criminology · Exhibitionism · Graffiti · Institution · Liminality · Political science · Rite · Rite of passage · Social science · Sociology · The arts · Visual arts · Anthropology · Art Therapy and Mental Health · Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies · Law · Psychology · Public Spaces through Art · Social Psychology

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