What happens when the treatment is worse than the disease? Trisha Gupta’s solo exhibition at Night Owl Gallery is a collection of research, documentation, classification, and interpretation of 3 years of study centering around Forest Haven Asylum in Laurel, Maryland, USA.
Trisha Gupta is a contemporary artist, community activist, and educator. Her work is heavily influenced by her Indian-American heritage and explores themes of social inequality, colonialism, mental health, and immigration. It has come to light that for decades in the 20th century, the staff there criminally abused, tortured and murdered over 387 patients that were then unceremoniously buried in unmarked graves on the campus.
While the asylums have closed (Forest Haven is one of countless such places across the country), Gupta asserts that the attitudes that promoted mistreatment persist.
Not only does Gupta respectfully engage the audience in learning about the travesties that took place in the institution, Gupta highlights the relationship between provider and patient and the inherent vulnerability of the patient. Gupta simultaneously creates a metaphor for her exploration of her own fraught mental health journey. Trisha is an MFA candidate at Maryland Institute College of Art (Mount Royal School) in Baltimore and has a background in healthcare. Forest Haven is a program of the 2024 Asia North Exhibition and Festival. https://www.towson.edu/campus/
