Blake and His Visions discussion panel, with AXNS

“All my visions appear to me infinitely more perfect and more organised than anything seen by the mortal eye.” William Blake

AXNS is a curatorial collective of young curators, scientists and art historians with an interest in the intersection between science and art. We curate exhibitions, events and workshops engaging the public with cutting edge research in neuroscience. When the Inspired by Blake Festival got in touch to hold an event on the topic of Blake we jumped at the chance. Blake’s visions have long been a topic of debate by scholars, artists and poets; and now, in this age of neuroscientific advancement, they are being considered by psychologists too.

Of course, there is no way that we can reliably identify the true nature of Blake’s psychological state. On the anecdotal evidence we have documenting Blake’s visions, one could come to any number of diagnoses, each as unsustained as the next. Blake’s political agenda is well known and shines through his work in vivid depictions of nature and god against the empiricism of science and industrialisation. This raises the question of whether Blake’s visions were purely psychological, or strategic expressions of a wider political agenda?

We decided to bring together leading academic minds to ask that question, and discuss the wider implications of the visionary nature of his work.

We’ll be bringing together Professor Glyn Humphreys, Watts Professor and Head of Department for Experimental Psychology, the Keats-Shelley Prize winning poet Maitreyabandhu, whose work is informed by his Buddhist beliefs, and Professor Christopher Rowland, Dean Ireland's Professor of Exegesis of Holy Scripture and author of Blake and the Bible, to discuss the nuances of visions in art.