Festivals and Films

Beauty in Asylum.

From 16 Oct 2006 to 26 Oct 2006

17-27 Oct 2006. Work by patients at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital in Asylum Down goes on display at the Goethe Institut to mark the hospitals centenary year. The work on show is the result of an art programme for child patients launched by Ghanaian artist Victor H. Massok in December 1999 and expanded to adults in view of the anniversary celebrations earlier this year. Constructed in 1904, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital was commissioned in 1906, initially to accommodate 200 patients. For the first half of the 20th century it was the only established psychiatric facility in West Africa. In recent decades it has undergone major expansion and now has around 700 patients, many of whom are in long-term care. Beauty in Asylum aims to sensitise the public concerning the therapeutic importance of art. It will be opened by Dr. Akwasi Osei, chief psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service. Entrance free.