LE BAL invites Catalan artist and researcher Laia Abril (Barcelona, 1986) to present the latest chapter of her long-term project exploring the history of misogyny: On Mass Hysteria. Following On Abortion (2016) and On Rape (2020), this new body of work continues her trilogy on the systemic control of women's bodies across centuries and continents.
In On Mass Hysteria, Laia Abril offers a visual investigation into the various interpretations that have been proposed to explain what was long described as "collective hysteria." These phenomena have primarily affected close-knit communities of adolescent girls and women facing severe stress or oppression, who develop collective symptoms with no identifiable physiological cause: fainting, tremors, uncontrollable laughter, trances, and more.
For the installation at LE BAL, Abril remains faithful to her research-driven methodology by developing three specific case studies, examined in collaboration with anthropologists, sociologists, neurologists, and psychiatrists in an effort to better understand the origins of these episodes:
-
Case Study 1 – 2007 | Chalco, Mexico: An outbreak of leg paralysis at a Catholic boarding school for girls.
-
Case Study 2 – 2012–2022 | Cambodia: An epidemic of fainting among female garment factory workers.
-
Case Study 3 – 2012 | Le Roy, New York, USA: An outbreak of tic disorders among students at a high school.
For each case, Abril foregrounds the voices of women who experienced these symptoms, pairing their testimonies with evocative images reflecting their lived experiences and narratives, while also revisiting the responses of the media and public authorities.
Drawing on a wealth of archival material—from the Salem witch trials in the seventeenth century to schoolgirls in Botswana in 2019—Laia Abril also reveals the remarkable geographical and historical scope of these phenomena.
Bringing together perspectives from anthropology, psychology, the history of medicine, and women's rights, Abril highlights emerging interpretations of these events, now referred to as mass psychogenic illness. The project gives form to an anthropological theory that understands these psychosomatic outbreaks as a language of resistance—a way for women to express oppression, collective suffering, and transgenerational trauma.
Practical Information
Online ticketing
LE BAL
6 impasse de la Défense
75018 Paris, France
Opening hours
Wednesday: 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Thursday to Sunday: 12:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The exhibition is co-produced by LE BAL, Photo Elysée, The Finnish Museum of Photography, and Galerie Les filles du calvaire.
The exhibition is supported by Women In Motion, a Kering programme dedicated to promoting the visibility of women in the arts and culture.
LE BAL's programme receives support from the City of Paris, the Île-de-France Region, and the French Ministry of Culture.
