Based on a combination of clinical and pedagogical experience in occupational therapy, which interlinks artistic practices and therapeutic processes, we carried out a historical study designed to investigate how the fields of mental health and art became interrelated in Brazil between the mid 19th and 20th centuries. The methods used for this research, which is underpinned by the thinking of Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari, were cartography and archeology. We used archeology to investigate the historical discourses and events, seeking out the forces behind them. Through cartography we sought to map out some lines which, emerging from each of these fields in relation to the other, intersect to form different patterns in the area under study.
art; medicine; insanity; occupational therapy; mental health; Brazil