Malfunctions of a Brain

‘Malfunctions of a Brain’ trilogy calls for awareness of mental illnesses and of the significant role neuroscience plays in neurodegenerative diseases. 

The disturbance in the natural arrangements of our society has become more apparent and common nowadays - one in four people currently has a common mental disorder (CMD). The trilogy displays the tragic reality of many individuals’ hidden psychological and physical aggravation. They, together portrait metaphorically the detrimental effects of the defects found in neuron composition and organisation. 

This is an important matter, for, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul. Not long ago, I have experienced first-hand the physical and mental effect of anxiety; doing exercises and talking to trusted ones helped, so do strategic breathing and emotions labelling recommended by many psychiatry and psychology studies. However, these trivial exercises seem to me short-term methods that only scratch the superficial, instead of healing procedures that deal wth the roots of the problem.

As a graduate in Master of architecture, I cannot help but wonder how much our mental health is shaped by our external built environment as well as our brain’s complex architecture. Previously, I wrote a research paper on how architecture could affect human’s emotions, their cognitive abilities and how buildings could potentially amend people’s well-being. The investigation into behavioural psychology, cognitive triangle theory and the Iceberg model developed by Dr A. Watkins, a neuroscientist, brought me to realise that thoughts, emotions and behaviour - in other terms, physiology, psychology and thinking - are closely related. In fact, many of us are not aware of the intertwining linkage between mental disorders and the cells in our brains.

 The Bruised Brain brings forth the repulsiveness of mental illness; it poses the ugliness and the pain evoked from a faulted biological structure. The rotten temporal lobe is disturbed and decayed. The second painting, The Blooded Brain, comes from the Cubism idea on fragmentation and abstraction; it is a statement on misconception and multi-perception of neuroscience and its relation with mental diseases. The blood of life is drained off the cerebrum via a syringe. The last painting - Tree of Neurons – is inked on a grained paper, it depicts the core of a brain and how the stem supplies the organ and its tissue. The intrinsic details of the interconnection of the roots and branches within the cerebral matter reflect on Charles Darwin’s’ drawing of the evolution, on his sketch of the Tree of life.

I would like to use this platform to raise awareness on the Neurosciences and Mental Health Board and their role to invest in disorders of the human nervous system. It is vital for our current society to pay extra attention on the impact genes and molecules have on our mental well-being. Perhaps, the study into this field of science could develop remedies that ease, if not cure, these conditions, giving human race another chance to thrive and flourish.