On Mass Hysteria. A History Of Misogyny by Laia Abril at LE BAL

LE BAL invites Catalan artist-researcher Laia Abril to present the latest chapter of her long-term project on the history of misogyny, her ongoing work on the systemic control of women’s bodies across centuries and continents.

Overview

In On Mass Hysteria, Laia Abril offers a visual interpretation of the various explanations that have been used to describe what has long been labeled "collective hysteria." These phenomena primarily affect communities of young girls and women who are tightly bonded, and who face extreme stress or oppression, manifesting collective symptoms with no physiological cause: fainting, tremors, uncontrollable laughter, trance-like states.

In the installation at LE BAL, Abril, staying true to her research method, develops three specific case studies, discussed with anthropologists, sociologists, neurologists, and psychiatrists to understand the origins of these crises:
• Case study 1, 2007 | Chalco, Mexico, Epidemic of leg paralysis in a Catholic girls' boarding school
• Case study 2, 2012–2022 | Cambodia, Epidemic of fainting among workers in garment factories
• Case study 3, 2012 | Le Roy, New York, USA, Epidemic of tics in a high school

For each case, Laia Abril gives voice to the women affected by these symptoms, sharing evocative images of their experiences and narratives, while revisiting the responses of the press and authorities.

Through numerous archives, from the Salem witches of the 17th century to the schoolgirls of Botswana in 2019, Laia Abril demonstrates the incredible geographical and temporal breadth of the phenomenon.

Drawing from anthropology, psychology, the history of medicine, and women's rights law, Laia Abril echoes new interpretations of these crises, now called “mass psychogenic illnesses.” This work reflects the anthropological theory that views these psychosomatic crises as a form of resistance by women against oppressive systems, collective suffering, or intergenerational trauma.