Nepal. 2016. While conducting research there, Laia Abril came across a surprising article in the Times of India, titled “Girls struck by mass hysteria in a Nepalese school.” It mentioned dozens of schoolgirls who lost consciousness at the same time, with no apparent organic cause. Fascinated by the phenomenon, Laia Abril decided to explore the subject further and discovered a wealth of documentation recounting similar manifestations, dating back to the Middle Ages.
Through a visual and documentary approach, On Mass Hysteria, presented at BAL from January 17 to May 18, 2025, continues Abril’s work on the history of misogyny—after On Abortion (2016) and On Rape (2020)—the Catalan researcher this time analyzes how collective bodily manifestations have been perceived and interpreted throughout the centuries.
A Global and Historical Phenomenon
“1628. Spain. 27 Nuns. Trance States, Screams, Obscene Behavior”; “1692. Salem, North America. Witch Hunt. Trance Epidemic”; “2015. Botswana. 133 Schoolgirls. Uncontrollable Movements and Laughter”… so many striking, sometimes even frightening, titles adorn the walls of the BAL. A powerful display, designed to demonstrate the incredible geographical and historical scope of this phenomenon and the points that unite them: tightly knit communities of women, sudden collective symptoms, and situations of control and oppression.
Laia Abril, in collaboration with anthropologists, sociologists, neurologists and psychiatrists, has chosen to analyse three cases in depth: a collective paralysis in a Catholic boarding school for girls in Mexico in 2007, epidemics of fainting among textile workers in Cambodia between 2012 and 2022 and a series of unexplained nervous tics in a high school in 2012 in the United States, a special case since it is the first case where social networks played an amplifying role.
Laia Abril, in collaboration with anthropologists, sociologists, neurologists and psychiatrists, has chosen to analyse three cases in depth: a collective paralysis in a Catholic boarding school for girls in Mexico in 2007, epidemics of fainting among textile workers in Cambodia between 2012 and 2022 and a series of unexplained nervous tics in a high school in 2012 in the United States, a special case since it is the first case where social networks played an amplifying role.
A Body Language in the Face of Oppression
Through a dialogue between archives, testimonies, and multimedia installations, Abril clarifies: she does not document, she makes visible. While the distinction seems subtle, it is nonetheless crucial. Focusing on exploring root causes and taking a long-term view allows us to go beyond mere passing trends. Laia Abril questions how medicine, the press, and authorities have historically responded to these crises, while giving us a voice to the women affected by them, accompanying their stories with evocative images.
Because victims have often been accused of exaggerating, seeking attention, being possessed, or even being witches. And current medicine struggles to fully explain these phenomena, forcing us to look elsewhere for answers. The artist therefore reverses these perspectives by questioning the cultural and gender biases surrounding these episodes.
“Throughout my research at the intersection of anthropology, psychology, women’s rights, and the history of medicine, I have tried to move beyond reductive explanations that ignore the collective power dynamics underlying these crises. By moving away from a strictly Western perspective, I have explored women’s animist beliefs, transgenerational trauma, and culturally specific psychosomatic expressions of pain,” explains Laia Abril.
Some theories, such as that of anthropologist Aihwa Ong, suggest that these crises are an unconscious form of resistance to oppressive systems. These women, often in subordinate positions, are silenced, unable to express their grievances, disagreements, or opposition. In Cambodian garment factories, for example, these collective fainting spells may express distress at harsh working conditions and a lack of voice. Ong speaks of a “protolanguage of protest,” an unconscious resistance to difficult living conditions and a male-dominated system of power.
Beyond the Exhibition
On Mass Hysteria is not limited to theoretical reflection: the exhibition offers a sensory and emotional immersion through videos, audio narratives, and archival documents. Performances, debates, and presentations will also punctuate the three-month exhibition at Le BAL, strengthening the dialogue on the condition of women and how society reacts to bodily manifestations when they deviate from the norm.
Laia Abril thus invites us to engage in a dialogue on the history and condition of women; a subject that the BAL strongly defends, as evidenced by its all-female 2025 program.
Marine Aubenas
Laia Abril : On Mass Hysteria
Until May 18, 2025
LE BAL
6 impasse de la Défense, 75018 Paris
Wednesday 12 p.m.-8 p.m.; Thursday to Sunday 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Full €8 / Reduced €6
www.le-bal.fr
Published by delpire & co to coincide with the exhibition, this book, designed by Laia Abril, is the artist’s first publication in France.
Laia Abril : On Mass Hysteria, Une histoire de la misogynie
delpire & co
Format: 19 x 27 cm
Hardcover
Pages: 384
EAN: 979-10-95821-76-2
Price: €55
www.delpireandco.com
