Welcome to the Victorian Underground Project

Photograph #10

We don’t know much about Malachi Alexander except for what’s in the public records which isn’t very much. He was forced into the Horsehay Lunatic Asylum in Warwickshire as a danger to all. He was 22 years old and tragically committed suicide not long after a failed escape attempt a couple of months after incarceration.

The records signed by a respected Doctor Bellamy mention “chronic paranoia, delusions akin to demonic possession and intense suicidal ideation”. We contacted a member of the Fellowship who happens to be a clinical psychiatrist and he said “textbook schizophrenia”. Please note that we aren’t offering a posthumous diagnosis of Malachi here as this isn’t where our interest lies; we only wish to provide context to our readers.

All of that aside, his artwork was both captivating and unnerving. Some appear to be scratched like an engraved illustration which was a popular method of art during the Victorian era. Photograph #4 is a tracing of one of Malachi’s pieces made by a warden when there was no camera available to him. We can see from this how he was adapting his style to the environment he had found himself in.

His other pieces in this collection were found by staff and occasionally the other patients. They were dotted around the asylum and were often three dimensional, utilising boarded up windows and grubby concrete walls. He would then use a hybrid of drawing and sculpting.

We would also like to note that photograph #1 is actually of Malachi. The rear of the photograph states that he was found like this regularly. The wings were made out of rags which he cut and weaved together while the horns were made out of wooden cutlery. His face had been painted using a mixture of white dust and black tea.

Photograph #10 is the last piece of art he created before being found dead in one of the recreational yards. It’s a striking image which appears to be of a silhouette cast against a ball of light. Only Malachi knows what it means to him; the rest of us can only imagine.

Many thanks as always and we’ll be back soon with more fascinating photography from the most visually interesting period in history.

TVUP