Pull Yourself Together

MAF is an international and multidisciplinary festival bringing together madness and arts. From 24 September – 3 October Haarlem, Holland will be hosting this year’s festival, following Toronto (2003) and Münster (2006).

It will get off to a special start on Friday 24 September with a performance in the streets of Haarlem by Bobby Baker. Bobby Baker will ride on the back of a flat bed truck, around Haarlem throughout the day, and at 7.30pm at the festival site, shouting words of encouragement to the passers-by: ‘Chin up’, ‘Do your best’, ‘Cheer up, darling, put a smile on your face’. They are the words that were addressed to her when she was struggling with mental illness. She now shouts them back at the public in a kind of cheerful revenge. Baker hopes it will make people think about what these words of encouragement mean. How readily do we use them with people going through a difficult period? What do they really mean for those who have to listen to them?

Image by Hugo Glendinning