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WOUNDED HEALERS
An exhibition of work by Patrick Altes
21st - 29th February
At: Lighthouse
Wounded Healers was an art exhibition that took a bold look at one of medical sciences most emotional areas – the treatment of cancer. For ten months, French visual artist Patrick Altes’ was artist in residence at the Sussex Cancer Centre at Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton, with a unique challenge, to artistically document the role of oncologists in cancer treatment, by providing a creative vision of these ‘healers’ in a highly scientific context.
Altes’s experiences ranged from the harrowing to the uplifting. Through attending clinics, ward rounds, being involved in team meetings and research projects, Altes shadowed the oncologists’ challenges in dealing with an emotionally charged disease. As he began painting, Altes realised he was increasingly exploring a paradox; the image of science as the realm of absolute knowledge and a medical reality full of incertitude, even with the developing of modern imagery. Could this brain tumour be a stroke? Could this image of cancer in the spinal cord actually be caused by an infection?
A former cancer patient himself, Altes had to relive many of his own ordeals, but from a radically different perspective. As Altes says ‘Medicine is closely linked to our primal need for survival and we relate to doctors in a complex way; when exposed to something as frightening as cancer, we see them as healers, rather than just vehicle for science doling out treatment to put us back on track. I’m interested in how doctors are affected by the tolls of straddling sophisticated scientific medicine alongside the emotional burden of treating a fearful illness. Basically, I’m interested in their struggle with power, science and their own humanity.’
By taking the viewer behind the professional mask of the oncologist, the exhibition provided the viewer with a highly charged emotional experience.
For more information about the residency: www.bsms.ac.uk
The residency was funded by The Leverhulme Trust. |
