Where carnival becomes care

We are delighted to share that Where Carnival Becomes Care, a photograph by Delia Da Mosto, has won first prize in the “Research in Action” Photography Competition organised by the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy at King’s College London (tag: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/kings-faculty-of-social-science-public-policy/about/).

Taken during doctoral fieldwork for Transitions, the photograph captures a powerful moment from the Carnival parade organised by Bloco Tá Pirando, Pirado, Pirou!, a collective based in Rio de Janeiro that brings together residents, mental health users and professionals and anti-asylum activists. This context, marks the symbolic reappearance of Marco Cavallo — the blue horse figure that was first created in 1973 as an emblem of the anti-asylum movement in Italy — exiting the Philippe Pinel psychiatric hospital and entering the the creative and political energies of Brazilian Carnival streets.

The image speaks to one of the central concerns of the Transitions project: deinstitutionalisation is not only enacted not through reforms and services, but through public space, collective joy, and new forms of solidarity. Here, celebration, sisterhood, and care become visible as part of the ongoing struggle to imagine and build new utopias in mental health.

Link of the news: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/sspp-photography-winners-announced