Senses working overtimeAndrea Roe, the Wellcome Trust’s first Artist-in-residence, began her six-month residency in September. What does she hope to achieve? |
"Unlike other extra residencies on offer during 2000, which is also the year of the artist, this particular one is a rare gem," says Andrea Roe, first winner of the Wellcome Trust’s Artist-in- residence competition. "Having just finished work for my MA at Chelsea, I need to refuel on information."
Andrea was already aware of the Trust’s Medical Photographic Library from past research images of tumours and diseased organs. Now she is eager to make further use of the rich treasure trove of medical history artifacts held at the Trust’s offices and Science Museum. She sees the residency primarily as a time for research and contemplation: "I don’t know how my work will develop but I know that I want to look at perception and synaesthesia."
It is easy to imagine why Andrea is interested in this odd condition - in which people’s senses are confused such that they ‘see’ noises or ‘hear’ colours - as stimulation of the senses has been a recurring theme in her work. In August 2000, Andrea’s first solo London exhibition, ‘Close Shave’, was featured at the Mafuji Gallery in Dalston. Primarily, the show presented remodelled work from her fine art MA degree show examining, she says, "aspects of absorbency, infusion and attraction".
The sense of touch is a strong element of these works, and the use of textures and tactile stimulation runs throughout her portfolio back to sculpture studies in Scotland over a decade ago. Before re-locating from Scotland to London in 1999, Andrea held a ten-month artist residency at the Crichton Royal Hospital in Dumfries to develop installations in a studio space within the psychiatric patients’ art room. "Part of the time was spent assisting patients, and inspiring them to produce things," she explains. "Providing tactile materials was a useful ice breaker."
Another of her interests also had a major impact: "The incorporation of taxidermied animals in my work caught the patients’ attention and created discussion during visits to the art room," she says. One particular installation piece – ‘Vantage Point’, consisting of elm tree stumps covered in green formica surrounded by taxidermied rabbits (borrowed from a museum in Dumfries) - enabled her to develop collaborations with patients. "These became plinths set in the hospital’s beautiful park grounds on which the patients displayed their creations."
Andrea’s interest in taxidermy stemmed from her time at Art Link - an organisation that employs artists to work with children’s groups and help people with mental illness and physical disability - where she arranged visits to the taxidermy department at the Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. She went on to join the Guild of Taxidermists, learning at first-hand the intricacies of this preservation process.
Andrea’s artistic career has been extremely varied and the Trust residency will no doubt provide additional inspiration for her artistic work. Whatever artwork she ends up creating should offer a refreshingly different perspective on a scientific issue, ultimately helping to raise awareness and stimulate discussion with non-scientific audiences.
See also
- Medical photographic library: Collection and access details