Feature: Arts Awards - Body of work

12 April 2012

Whether it’s a damaged joint, a suspect lump or unwanted fat, all kinds of tissue are removed from people’s bodies every day, for both medical and cosmetic reasons. Inspired by the fact that these tissues are an important source of adult stem cells, artist Gina Czarnecki and scientist Professor Sara Rankin from Imperial College London started the ‘Wasted’ project.

Part-funded by the Wellcome Trust, they created thought-provoking art from discarded parts of the body, raising awareness of the life-giving potential of this clinical waste.

Mindful of the ethical implications, they secured consent from patients and doctors, and sought the advice of the National Research Ethics Advisors Panel, to use liposuction fat and hip joints removed during operations. But when the cosmetic surgeons' professional standards body raised concerns about how the general public would perceive the works, the clinicians involved withdrew their donation of material.

Now, rather than human fat, it's cow fat inside the armchairs. Casts of the hip joints, rather than the originals, are sculpted together. Gina displayed selected correspondence from these discussions next to the pieces.

These and other works by Gina - including the première of a Wellcome Trust-funded interactive video installation, 'Contagion' - were exhibited in Liverpool earlier in 2012. Also on display was the striking sculpture 'Palaces', which is gradually being studded with milk teeth donated by UK children. 'Palaces' is touring to the Science Museum and Centre of the Cell in London in 2012 and The Herbert art museum and gallery in Coventry in 2013.

This feature also appears in issue 70 of ‘Wellcome News’.

Top image: ‘Palaces’. The resin-based palace starts to grow in its first exhibition at the Bluecoat Liverpool in early 2012. Credit: Gina Czarnecki.

Right: Reupholstered 1930s art deco armchair stuffed with fat. Credit: Gina Czarnecki.