The Migraine Art Competitions

Derek Robinson, founder of the Migraine Art concept, in the 1970s.

In 1973, Derek Robinson, a marketing executive employed by the multinational pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim Limited, was 'desperately searching' for significant images to promote the advertising campaign for a new drug for the prophylactic treatment for migraine.

Dr Kenneth Michael Hay MBE, 1994. Photograph from the Inside Cover of his Autobiography "Breathless to Live", 1994.

He found the solution when Dr Kenneth Michael Hay MBE, a Midlands general practitioner, introduced to him a patient, Miss J.R.B., a then 42-year-old teacher with a history of basilar migraine since her childhood, who used to illustrate the pain and visual aura symptoms of her attacks with sketches and paintings in order to help her doctor understand the stress caused by her migraine.

Dr Kenneth Michael Hay MBE, Patients' visual portrayals of migraine, Illustration from article "Migraine", The Physician, March 1984. (Right bottom corner picture by Miss J.R.B., top and left bottom corner pictures by anonymous artists.) © 1984 The Physician

Derek Robinson contacted the women and used her artwork in his audiovisual programme which was to become the cradle of the Migraine Art concept. He had almost forgotten his 'marketing exercise', when six years later, in 1979, he was approached by Peter Wilson MBE, the founder of the British Migraine Association, which has changed its name to the Migraine Action Association (MAA) in 1997 and now has over 15,000 members devoted to promote direct help among the migraine sufferers.

Peter Wilson MBE, founder (1958) of the British Migraine Association, undated photograph.

New logo of the Migraine Action Association, 1997. © 1997 Migraine Action Association

Being asked if he had any ideas on how the Association could get some publicity, Derek Robinson had the idea: "If one person could paint a migraine, then maybe there were others out there."

Early press release announcing the forthcoming First Migraine Art Competition, 1980, using a drawing from Miss J.R.B. © 1980 Migraine Action Association

Entry to Migraine Art contest: Conditions of entry. © 2007 Migraine Action Association and Boehringer Ingelheim

Thus, a Migraine Art Competition was launched which soon received national attention. The competition, jointly sponsored by the British Migraine Association and Boehringer Ingelheim Limited, was open to all self-reported migraine sufferers, who were asked, according to the conditions of entry, "to draw, paint or illustrate

a. their own impressions of any form of visual disturbance which heralds a classical migraine attack,
b. the pain associated with a migraine attack,
c. the effect migraine has on their lives".

Entry to Migraine Art contest: Visual disturbances. © 2007 Migraine Action Association and Boehringer Ingelheim

The enterprise was so successful that four Migraine Art Competitions were organized between 1980 and 1987. Approximately 900 pictures were submitted, not only from the UK, but also from Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, South-Africa, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

Entry to Migraine Art contest: Pain. © 2007 Migraine Action Association and Boehringer Ingelheim

Given that some artists requested the return of their entries following the contests, 562 pictures remained in the Migraine Art collection, which was managed by Derek Robinson as its Curator until his death February 22, 2001.

Entry to Migraine Art contest: Social consequences. © 2007 Migraine Action Association and Boehringer Ingelheim

The joint sponsors of the Migraine Art Competitions hold the copyright on all pieces of art in the collection which is available for scientific purposes, for exhibitions and to illustrate publications.

Logo of the 2005 Migraine Art competition.

In September 2005, MAA has launched, under a grant supplied by AstraZeneca, an art competition inviting artists to graphically express the impact migraine has on their life. Entry to the competition closed on March 31st 2006.

H. Mogridge, Senses Under Assault, 2006. © 2006 Migraine Action Association

The 3 judges (MAA Trustee Linda Hunter, Director of Clinical Research at the City of London Migraine Clinic, Dr Anne MacGregor, and artist and migraine sufferer, Debbie Ayles) selected 8 winning entries (see here). Members of the public were then invited to vote for their favourite of the 8 winning entries either on the MAA website or at various events where the artwork was being displayed. Voting closed at the end of Migraine Awareness Week on 9th September 2006. The entry with the most votes (>35%), H. Mogridge's painting Senses Under Assault, was awarded the Public Choice Award.

References

Bollig G, Undall E, Mørland T, Podoll K. Migrene og kunst. [Migraine and art. In Norwegian] Tidsskr Nor Lægeforen 2005; 125: 777-778.
Hay KM. Migraine. The Physician 1984; xx: 579-582.
Hay KM. Breathless to live. His autobiography. The Pentland Press Ltd, Durham 1994.
Nicola U, Podoll K. L'arte emicranica come strumento di studio dell'ispirazione artistica. [Migraine Art as a tool for studying artistic inspiration. In Italian] Confinia Cephalalgica 2001; 10: 137-144.
Podoll K. Derek Robinson's audiovisual programme 'In the picture - A personal view of migraine': The cradle of the Migraine Art concept. Neurol Psychiat Brain Res 2001; 9: 17-22.
Podoll K, Robinson D. Migraine Art - The migraine experience from within. Neurol Psychiat Brain Res 2002; 10: 29-34.
Wilkinson M, Robinson D. Migraine art. Cephalalgia 1985; 5: 151-157.

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