From mid-August to mid-October 2024, I had the chance to work at the psychiatric hospital on a project that was close to my heart: imagining a vehicle that could travel to meet other people and building it in real size using recycled materials.

For around fifteen sessions, I accompanied Xareni, Mohammed-Saïd, Halima, Christophe, Gerty, Mohammed-Amine, Ramzy, Bat-Shevaa, Sophie, Souad, Fatima, Estelle and Teodora as they drew and built models of vehicles straight out of their imaginations. Sophie showed us her pedal-powered cloud equipped with an anxiety net, Mohammed-Saïd his 3-axis microlight powered by bags of hospital valuables, and Bat-Shevaa her hot-air balloon featuring 4 sculptures. We pooled the ten or so works we had come up with to come up with one that they felt best represented the day hospital.

After dozens of hours spent together sanding, varnishing, painting, screwing, cutting and sewing, we hoisted the sails of this 6-wheeled, all-terrain, two-mast boat equipped with an anxiety net at the stern, 6 bags of valuables with plants growing in them and a colourful sculpture representing the emotions we might feel.

With this project, I wanted to open a small, creative, light and concrete window into their daily lives. It seems that since then, the patients have made the work in front of the hospital their own, playing guitar on it or hanging scoubidous on it like padlocks on the bridges of Paris. It was a very rich human experience and I had a great time! I had some really interesting discussions with the patients.

(The anxiety net is because you never get rid of your anxieties, but you learn to live with them)

A huge thank you to the health centre team for their trust and discussions, and especially to Brune, Didier and Alexandre.