Nellie Bly: Ten Days In A Madhouse

Nellie Bly was an American journalist who went undercover to investigate a mental institution. She had to pretend to be crazy and wrote an article about the whole experience, which changed the way insane asylums are run forever. Nellie Bly had to act insane to be accepted into the asylum, but every time she broke character, she used a handkerchief to cover her face. I chose to create a booklet made out of the same material and of the same size as a handkerchief to represent this part of the story I chose collage to represent the harshness and brutality of the subject. The strings were often used to show elements such as tied hands or choked patients. The outside of the booklet had to be as normal as the exterior of the asylum. The pages were french folded and japanese bound. The hand-drawn type was meant to enhance the struggle of the patients by giving the text a more personal feel.