The June edition of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International – features a piece by Dr Dami Ajayi, Muses Editor, who reflects on three years of Muses.

It has been three years since Muses, the art blog of BJPsych International, was launched. Although time travels fast, reflection is an active process of slowing time down to take stock of what time has bequeathed us.

Muses has published unfailingly every month since its inception, writing at the interface between mental health (and illness) and the arts. Four times a year, Dr Tim McInerny, BJPsych International Pictures editor, profiles (and celebrates) the artists who produce the cover art for the journal. The other eight posts annually are a pot-pourri of things—reviews, interviews and original writings–yoked together by a distinct sensibility: a thoughtful exploration of mental illness through creativity, language and artistic expression. These writings are profoundly vulnerable, yet gesture towards redemption and healing.

Nigerian poet Pamilerin Jacob’s Remarks on Amelioration is a poetic narration of his admission into the psychiatric hospital where he was assigned several diagnoses, including a culturally influenced one–being possessed– an inappropriate diagnosis made in a medical setting by a medical professional who ought to know better. This kind of conundrum plagues psychiatry. Diseases of the mind exist within cultural and religious contexts. Sufferers like this excellent poet sometimes lean on themselves for support. For Jacob, resilience assumed ‘the shape of a lyric’.

The shape of a wisp of smoke is what mental health advocate Ezinne Ogwumah conjures in her troubling piece about her on-and-off toxic affair with marijuana. Her compelling account constructs an extended metaphor in which she assigns marijuana the characteristics of a toxic lover. We thought it was appropriate to include a caveat as an afterword. And a list of resources for those who struggle with addiction, lest this incantatory exultation, done in gorgeous writing, betrays its real purpose.

Indian visual artist and psychiatrist Lakshmi Sravanti contributed several original artworks and commentary, including a bespoke piece included in the moving Amma’s Dance, a reportage of the musical and dance performance by Singapore-based music therapist/harpist Fontane Liang and psychiatrist/dancer Dr Deva Priya Appan. Such extraordinary multidisciplinary events are what we live for. It feeds into the euphoria of publishing writing from Asia.

Muses has featured several psychiatrists in the past, but a psychiatrist reviewing another psychiatrist was a first. Nigerian psychiatrist, Ayeyemi Obabire, lucidly reviewed, Dr. Benji Waterhouse’s memoir You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here, leaning into his own experience as an International Medical Graduate who left his natal country, disillusioned about the priority given to mental health care, only to locate that same despair in Waterhouse’s prose about his residency training in the United Kingdom.

If I could highlight my favourite piece of the last year, it would be the American-based Nigerian psychiatrist Tope Ogundare’s There is a Song for Every Emotion, in which he addresses his grief in the aftermath of his mother’s sudden passing. His ritual and routine of making poems and music leaned into his discipline as a poet and pianist, and so much less into his knowledge of psychiatry. His piece could be read as the introduction to his recently published third volume of poems, Grief Diary. 

Through diverse voices and perspectives, Muses continues to illuminate the complexities of the human experience, offering solace, understanding, and a celebration of the resilience found within vulnerability. 

We are always open to submissions. 

Welcome to Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International. This new blog aims to highlight international art and artists, particularly from low-and-middle-income countries, with a focus on mental health. We welcome submissions for consideration, such as, comments on artwork, visual arts, literature, drama, films, podcasts, and videos. Do have a look at the instructions for blog authors for details on how to submit. General enquiries about the blog: BJPInternational@rcpsych.ac.uk

Dr Marinos Kyriakopoulos, Editor-in-Chief, BJPsych International.