I, Little Asylum

By Emmanuelle Guattari

Founded in 1951 and renowned in the world of psychiatry, the nonstandard clinic of La Borde sought to break with the traditional internment of the mentally ill, and to have them participate in the material organi- zation of collective life. The clinic owed much to psychoanalyst and philosopher Félix Guattari who was co-director until 1992.

When you live at La Borde as a child whose parents work in the clinic, the place feels mostly like an incredible space of freedom: a castle, an immense park, forests and ponds. Through a series of vignettes painted in impressionistic strokes, Emmanuelle Guattari tenderly evokes the whimsical days of a childhood spent in that extraordinary place.