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A watercolour painting by Audrey Amiss of a fruit bowl, taken from her sketchbook.

Wellcome CollectionEuston

Audrey Amiss: The Surviving Exhibitions

Now showing10 July 2026 – 7 February 2027Free

The first museum show of Audrey Amiss (1933-2013): drawings, paintings and other works through which she spoke out against harmful treatment within the mental health system.

Exhibition website

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On nowAll of November 2026

You walk into the Fireworks room and the first thing you see is a slogan projected in Audrey Amiss's handwriting: "Psychiatrists are Mad". It stands in for the lost sign that greeted visitors to her 1989 protest show at St James's Church, Piccadilly.

Amiss studied painting at the Royal Academy, was detained in psychiatric units at least 11 times, and organised at least six solo shows herself. Gallery 2 rebuilds three of them from her posters and price lists. Her 1960s drawings of chairs, bookcases and the shops across the road are the most complete set, 24 of 30 works, some pressed so hard the pencil tears the page. The last room holds only labels: the 44 drawings from her 2002 show Drawings from a Locked Ward are still missing.

Studio International called it "a wonderful example of how to make exhibitions differently". It's free, shares Gallery 2 with Rudy Loewe's show, and has a nine-stop audio and BSL guide. Some archive material uses outdated, offensive terms.

Look for

  • "Psychiatrists are Mad"

    Look for the light projection of this slogan in Amiss's handwriting, standing in for the lost sign that was the first thing visitors met at her 1989 Fireworks show.

  • The double-sided 1960s drawings

    Sketchbook pages drawn on both sides, framed so you can see front and back; on Shops over the Road at Night she swapped the backboard for white tape.

  • The protest signs

    Watercolour slogans she carried to demonstrations around 2002, including 'Freedom for Lunatics', 'Free Bruno' and 'Psychiatry. Harming in the Name of Healthcare'.

  • Amiss at the 2002 demonstration

    An enlarged black-and-white photograph of her standing near the front of a protest against the 2002 Mental Health Bill, the only image of the artist in the show.

  • The missing locked-ward drawings

    Labels list the 44 lost works exactly as Amiss priced them in 2002, from 'Nightie Sandwich' and 'Office Chair' to 'My Smelly Shoes'.

Good for

  • Cheap Culture
  • Locals Who've Seen It All
  • Nerding Out

Skip if

You want art over archives: much of the show is posters, price lists and labels for lost works.

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