Body matters

"I am interested in the fragility of the human body," says Alexandre Da Cunha, the third Artist-in-residence at the Wellcome Trust. Alexandre – a fine art graduate of the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado in São Paulo, Brazil – started his six-month residency in September 2001. He moved to London in 1998 to undertake a postgraduate sculpture course at the Royal College of Art with support from a Brazilian Government scholarship; he then completed a Master’s degree at Chelsea College of Art and Design. "Since I’ve been in London, my work and the way I approach art has changed," he says. "It’s clear that I’m dealing with a subject – the body – and it doesn’t matter what medium I use to express my work." The transition is evident: his work has developed beyond pure sculpture to encapsulate video and photography in performance art.

Alexandre’s inspiration appears in various guises. For the performance piece ‘Survival’ (1999/2000), a short video shows Alexandre conducting a ‘fictional operation’ on a fully clothed person, precisely cutting the garments around the abdominal area (as if they were skin or body tissue) to expose a square of flesh beneath. "The performance was inspired by a similar procedure shown in a first aid manual," he says, and the premise was to "explore the relationship between patient and doctor, first aider and victim, using the clothes as an extension of the body in an investigation of human interaction in the process of healing."

‘Healing’ is a recurring theme of Alexandre’s work. He created a series of objects based on orthopaedic devices – crutches, stretchers and walking frames – made of domestic materials and clothes. The idea for the ‘improvised pieces’ evolved from diagrams shown in first aid and survival manuals and the key, he suggests, is practicality and maximising the use of basic materials. Selected pieces have been shown at group exhibitions in Limerick and Brighton, and most recently in his native São Paulo.

A month into his residency, Alexandre’s search through the Trust’s Medical Film and Audio Collections has unearthed some extraordinary film footage dating back to 1915. The film clip relates to his interest in ‘old and forgotten methods of healing’ and depicts a young girl being completely cast in plaster of Paris by a physician. "Obviously the film was made for a scientific audience but my perception is different and it would be a challenge to create my own interpretation of the film in the future," he suggests.

However, for the moment he intends to concentrate on creating a site-specific project: "There are two ideas, one involves creating an object or sculpture using modern domestic utensils and I've been looking through old Trust catalogues showing devices specifically made to help invalids. And the second is photography-based, dealing with issues raised from my previous performance work." This work includes performance art shown at the Pusan International Contemporary Art Festival 2000 (PICAF) in South Korea.

Alexandre is keen to build on the photographic element of his performance work, and searches through the archives in the Trust’s Medical Photographic Library have led to a fascinating series of images taken by a German photographer, L Haase, who worked with H W Berend (1809–73) – a renowned orthopaedic surgeon who photographed ‘real’ people for his medical illustrations. Understandably, it is clear why Alexandre is drawn to this imagery but just how it will inspire him remains to be seen.

See also

• Visual media libraries at the Wellcome Trust
• Hanging pretty: Article on the banner produced by Aya Ben Ron, the previous artist-in-residence

External links

• The Gallery in Guernsey: Details of Alexandre Da Cunha's summer 2002 residency