Reflections on Being on the Collection Advisory Board
The Bethlem Gallery Art Collection is a new collection of artworks by artists with lived experience of mental health services developed by Bethlem Gallery and generously supported by The Peter Sowerby Foundation.
Khaldoon Ahmed, member of the Collection Advisory Board, shares his thoughts on being part of the project:
Choosing works for the collection was an exercise in seeing. And seeing slowly. We live in a world of accelerating image consumption. How often do we truly get a chance to sit quietly with paintings, drawings and sculpture? And who am I in the process? A psychiatrist or just a person?
Our group carefully looked, and thought about the works. The process took artwork from unlit basements to the surface. There was something odd about not knowing fully the person who made the pieces, but really having something communicated to you through lines, moulding, colours and sketched faces. It took time to do this seeing, and to get to know my fellow board members selecting the works.
You never really know someone. One of our group was also one of the artists. When I saw his work there was a flash of understanding, a brief moment of knowing the specific feeling the artist wanted to share. This was something that the work was uniquely able to do – beyond speech and even presence.
Some of the artists could have been my patients, although highly unlikely because I work in a different part of the city. In my dialogue with paintings, drawings, textiles and objects, I wondered how many of the patients I have met over the years have uncommunicated worlds. That are hidden and unseen because they haven’t had a chance to express themselves in an artform.
Khaldoon Ahmed
May 2025
Khaldoon Ahmed is a Londoner of Pakistani descent who works as a psychiatrist and makes films. His most recent film “John Meyer Ward” tells the multiple stories of a former Victorian asylum building that was demolished. He was a Trustee of the arts and health charity Mental Fight Club which ran the Dragon Cafe and ReCreate Psychiatry project.
He has long been engaged in research and teaching of illness and culture. He studied a masters in medical anthropology at UCL, where he also trained in medicine. More recently, Khaldoon has taken up writing and publishing creative non-fiction.