She appears lost, her very being sometimes reduced to a whisper. But she is also in an intense quest for light, ready to fly away from the abyss. Fragile and powerful at the same time.

Through this character, I place myself at the very heart of the inner world of what medicine calls “psychosis”, a state of losing touch with reality and of people who are unaware of their condition.

I recount the lived experience – a state of presence-absence, a rupture of the connection with others that can lead to suffering – and one of the invisible mechanisms, hidden by the “symptoms”: a spiritual emergency, or the need to explore the mysteries of life, to find new foundations, meaning, and joy. Beyond trauma or difficult life experiences, this is a potentially rich and profound process.

I explore this thin grey zone between psychosis, madness and spiritual awakening.

Whilst psychiatry mostly seeks to suppress symptoms to protect the “patient”, there is another path, certainly more complex, but also more fruitful: guiding the person, starting from their psychosis, towards an awakening, a powerful journey of exploration and healing.

Looking beyond reality, I suggest viewing delusions, hallucinations and parallel inner worlds as other forms of reality rich in meaning.

Beyond the suffering, the lives disrupted or even destroyed, these are sometimes also initiatory journeys, mental odysseys into unknown realms where spirituality, trance, self-discovery and the cosmic exploration of the dimensions of time and space intertwine.

This project speaks to my personal story: I have been through all of this.

The words “bipolar disorder” were as reassuring – when the diagnosis addressed the anxieties of a 23-year-old man – as they were confining.

I was disoriented, lost, “treated”, first through constraint and force, then through compliance. I took medication for a long time, then stopped when I felt that irrepressible call to freely explore my inner world.

I then revisited my personal story, and chose to remove a label that, although protective, had never been truly meaningful to me.

In the meantime, I have chosen to embark on this rocky path that leads to a deeper understanding of oneself. I have explored old wounds and forgotten memories, and sought to transcend the legacy of birth and family.

Whilst mental health issues remain widely stigmatised and taboo in many countries, it is urgent that we look at our psychological vulnerabilities without fear, with empathy and curiosity, as part of our shared humanity: a universal experience.

Bruno Bettelheim, the famous psychoanalyst, refused to accept that behaviour could be considered “meaningless”. He said: ‘Everything human has a meaning’.

The madman “reminds everyone of their truth”, wrote Michel Foucault.

With this young woman, I invite us to embrace the grey zone between reason and madness, rich of meaning, yet full of dreams too.

Let us have no fear, and look after the people around us.

To create this photo series, I worked with a former psychiatric nurse, who plays the main character, as well as with a dancer and actors. A second part is in the works.

Produced with medium-format film.