Feature: X-ray visions

25 October 2011

Attending hospital to undergo any procedure can be unsettling, but those that involve radiation can be particularly anxiety provoking. Now, radiographers and artists at Yeovil District Hospital, Somerset, have used X-rays to reveal the inner secrets of everyday objects, helping patients and their families understand more about medical imaging, as well as improving the environment of the radiology department.

Senior radiographer and artist Sasha Moore, consulting radiologist Dr Richard Clarkson, arts coordinator Alex Coulter and colleagues invited X-ray artist Hugh Turvey to become artist-inresidence to undertake the inr-i ('inner eye') project.

Principally funded by a Wellcome Trust Small Arts Award, the project included a series of workshops and drop-in sessions during which members of the public and hospital staff and their families brought objects to be X-rayed. As the radiographer took the image, they explained the basics of X-raying to the participants. Toys, shoes, seashells and even a police helmet were among the items imaged.

The 29 striking images produced are on permanent display at Yeovil District Hospital, and the team is exploring the possibility of touring the images around other UK hospitals.

This feature also appears in issue 68 of ‘Wellcome News’.

Image credit: inr-i project (Hugh Turvey).