The Circle of Joy by Hana Madness

If you see Indonesian artist Hana Madness’ works, you will see cheerful, brightly colored paintings of smiling monsters in many shapes and sizes.

These works of art, including those on display at her exhibition, titled “Suddenly Monster Part 1”, at the Artsphere pop-up gallery in the Senayan City shopping center, Central Jakarta, in January, were inspired by her struggles managing her symptoms after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2013.

“I believe we can advocate for mental health issues in a more fun way, using cute images. It doesn’t always have to be dark,” Hana told The Jakarta Post.

One work called Siko Family features characters that visually describe her experience taking a number of mental illness medications. It is displayed alongside a piece called Super Cranky, describing a phase of her bipolar disorder.

Hana’s ability to turn her painful bipolar episodes — the monsters in her mind — into art demonstrates just how acutely aware she is of her symptoms.

She said she was constantly learning about her illness and how to handle it, including by taking medication, and was armed with an optimism that her condition could be treated and managed.

“My mind often becomes fearful. It wanders here and there in overthinking. I am also easily startled and hypervigilant. My mind can become very noisy at times […] with self-loathing and fears about the future. I experience physical fatigue and lethargy because of it,” Hana said.

Driven by the spirit of artists in many disciplines, including Keith Haring, Jean Dubuffet, Adolf Wölfli, Vincent van Gogh, musician Daniel Johnston and poets Sylvia Plath and Ann Sexton, Hana has been able to transmute the pain of her symptoms into beautiful works of art.

She also demonstrates her acceptance of her illness by calling herself Hana Madness. Madness is the name of her favorite British ska band, but by taking it as her last name, the artist, who was born Hana Alfikih, turns around a word that people use to stigmatize mentally ill people and wears it as a badge of empowerment.

The empowerment of mentally ill people is also a prominent theme on Hana’s Instagram account @hanamadness. It features the monsters for which she is known best but also includes comments by other people who deal with mental illness and find strength in Hana’s art.

“I feel very satisfied whenever I discover that my art has impacted other people positively — those who say that they are inspired to do the same thing or to motivate their mentally ill children to express themselves through the arts while finding the best way to treat them,” Hana said.

“Most importantly, we want to make mental illness survivors feel less alone and boost their desire to stay alive,” she added. Having used her art for advocacy, she also lists the title “mental health activist” on her most recent curriculum vitae.

Hana is passionate about her cause for a reason. Having survived childhood trauma and sexual violence growing up in the industrial area of Cakung, East Jakarta, which she terms “Jakarta’s own Bronx area”, she initially faced misunderstandings and an often harsh stigma against mentally ill people.

Her parents failed to understand their daughter’s illness at first, initially blaming her for her condition, even taking her to a ruqyah (Islamic exorcism).

Hana’s teenage years were especially harsh. She started to sense the symptoms of her illness back then: feeling sad and crying for no apparent reasons, being paranoid all the time and so on. In her house she felt misunderstood, and at school she had no friends. 

She often wandered outside her house, including at night. But eventually she found her own people, communities that eventually sparked her creative powers. Also, a blessing in disguise from these times — she earned her street-smarts along with her refined interpersonal and communication skills, making her a very articulate person.

“I was hanging out with people who did lots of art and who were also part of the local punk rock and metal scene,” Hana said. She found her life’s purpose when she started drawing.

Doodling was especially helpful in allowing her to express her chaotic emotions rooted in her childhood trauma, but she could also draw clothing patterns, which earned her not only money but the respect of her schoolmates, who paid her to design dresses for them.

She has also started to receive commissioned art projects from various corporations, the earliest being from national match company Tokai.

An important milestone in her artistic career came in 2011, when she joined an exhibition titled “Sister be Strong” at the Bau Tanah street gallery in Menteng, Central Jakarta, having formed a network with her fellow visual artists.

In 2012, she was featured in an article for daily newspaper Kompas and appeared on Metro TV’s talk show Kick Andy, propelling her career further.

In 2018, she joined the UK/ID Festival in England, part of her collaboration with the British Council, working together with British artist James Leadbitter (known as the Vacuum Cleaner), who is also open about his mental illness, to conduct workshops in the Bethlem Royal Psychiatric Hospital in London.

Hana said she felt a sense of solidarity with the mentally ill British artist, which gave her a sense of relief.

She was also invited to speak at various panel discussions on mental health.

Being proud of their daughter’s self-actualization through her career, Hana’s parents have now become more accepting of the way their daughter is.

“Instead of being super-anxious about me like they used to be, now they will just calmly advise me to take care of myself when the going gets rough,” Hana said with a warm smile on her face.

She was quick to add her journey was not always smooth, even now that she had launched her artistic career. She thanked her biggest supporter: her best friend, currently also her primary caregiver.

“To be honest, recent times have been quite rough on me, as I have become so exhausted lately. I feel useless when I don’t have much work to do, and conversations with many people can trigger old wounds, but I always tell myself the darkest times have already passed.” (ste)

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