This Is What Mental Illness Actually Looks Like
by The Daily Eye Team April 1 2015, 12:15 pm Estimated Reading Time: 0 mins, 55 secsPhotographer Anne Betton, 37, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2009. After an arts-focused education, she had moved on to a career in business communication—but a breakdown caused her to cycle between mania and depression for several years, including stints in psychiatric hospitals.
Stabilized since 2012, Betton has moved on to a second career in the arts, and now she’s focusing on portraying the journeys of others who, like her, have battled with mental illness.
Betton decided to commit to the cause after deep reflection on mental illness, its meaning, and the place of the mentally ill in society. Her photography collection, “Putting A Face on Mental Illness,” illustrates the humanity of mentally ill people—making them subjects, not objects of derision, scorn and misunderstanding. In her portraits, which she takes in the homes of her subjects, she seeks to draw them out in conversation and “reflect the soul” of each person in their portraits. A selection of her works was recently exhibited in an art gallery in Paris, to an enthusiastic local reception.