Nise da Silveira: trajectory of a maverick psychiatrist
2015
Luiz Carlos Mello
This biography of Nise da Silveira, awarded second place in the Biography category of the 2015 Jabuti Prize, documents, through clear and concise language, the extraordinary life of the Brazilian psychiatrist who produced a work that, in its genre, is among the most important in the world. It gives a broad overview of Silveira’s life, from her childhood in the Brazilian state of Alagoas to her death in Rio de Janeiro in 1999 at the age of 94.
After spending two years in prison during the Vargas dictatorship, she actively engaged in the paradigm shift in psychiatry, helping set up original institutions like Casa das Palmeiras, the country’s first outpatient care institution, which became the model for Brazil’s psychosocial care centers today, and Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente, an institution where research and experimentation overflows from the realm of science to also make waves in the world of the visual arts.
The author, Silveira’s companion for her last 26 years of life, has structured this text around Nise da Silveira’s own words, taken from personal notes, interviews, and statements given in the media, giving the narrative a colloquial tone.
The text is supplemented by photographs, documents, correspondence, manuscripts, dreams, and thoughts that shed light on the main events that shaped her history. The research and knowledge she produced are accompanied by a selection of pieces from the Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente collection that were decisive for her work, combining both symbolic signification and aesthetic beauty.
This photobiography is based largely on documents from Nise da Silveira’s personal archives, which have just been granted protection under Unesco’s Memory of the World Program and included in the national register, which aims to identify and protect sets of valuable documentary heritage.
Nise da Silveira (1905-1999) was a psychiatrist. In 1946 she founded the Occupational Therapy Service at Centro Psiquiátrico Pedro II, a psychiatric care center in Rio de Janeiro. In 1952 she created Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente at the same institution, a study and research center that safeguards the works produced in the expressive therapy workshops (paintings and models). A few years later, in 1956, Dr. Silveira, in conjunction with a group of people inspired by the same ideas, brought another project off the drawing board: the creation of Casa das Palmeiras, a clinic for treating patients discharged from psychiatric hospital, giving them free rein to engage in expressive activities. Nise da Silveira was also responsible for forming the C. G. Jung Study Group.
Over the years, her research became the object of a number of exhibitions, films, documentaries, symposia, publications, conferences, and courses focusing both on occupational therapy and on the importance of images from the unconscious in understanding the inner world of people with schizophrenia. In recognition of the importance of her work, Dr. Silveira received awards, prizes, and honorary titles in different areas of knowledge: health, education, art, and literature. Her work and principles have inspired the founding of museums, cultural centers, and psychiatric institutions in Brazil and abroad. Through her work she was responsible for introducing Jungian psychology to Brazil.
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Automatica has been developing cultural projects since 2005, working in the creation, production, curation, management, coordination and consultancy of exhibitions, educational programs, publications and other activities related to artistic production. It works with artists, curators, art critics, art historians, cultural institutions, public and private sponsors. It participates in public notices and awards, and prepares projects for incentive laws in the three spheres of public administration.
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