11th September 2023
As dreadful as it might sound the things that inspire me the most are the often small and sometimes traumatic happenings I remember from my times inside hospitals.
Images taken from my phone of either the the interior of the buildings or my own body at time of admission are collated by me, then later come in useful for some obscure artwork. I have a whole selection of photographs of grim plug holes and white walled corridors stored on my phone. I carry it with me daily just as I carry the trauma.
One could say this may present itself as a burden and I would not entirely disagree. However, in moments this burden is not carried as a weight. When used as inspiration, these sights and experiences can transcend their dark nature and become, through art, a source of hope and comfort.
How? There is the element of the clinical in everything. Mimicking society's systems, hospitals are an extreme of the spectrum but they mimic none the less.
In creating spaces of routine, cleanliness and structure, hospitals re-enact the mundane day to day of life.
Observe the below image, which appears to be of an old hospital corridor, but it is not. In fact this photo was taken at my student halls flat in Bath in 2017.
The comfort of our lives is repeated and exaggerated in hospitals in order to remind or teach chronically ill individuals of how to live and function in the outside world. it doesn't always work that way but in exploring this warped mirror between the inside and outside worlds I hope to convey that, others in their experiences are not alone, and remind those with little experience that what you see of us is really a reflection of society.
