These works for created during a three-week residency in the surgical department at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Surgery /ˈsəːdʒ(ə)ri/
A procedure is considered surgical when it involves cutting of a patient's tissues or closure of a previously sustained wound.
Stitched works: For this body of work, I chose to mimic what occurs in a surgery- the cutting and subsequent closure of the area. I decided to use surgical suture as thread to ‘fix’ the photographs once I cut them. I researched different suture techniques employed by surgeons (including but not limited to over and over sutures- interrupted and continuous, horizontal mattress sutures, Lembert suture, Everling suture, Connel suture, Cushing suture, and Halstead suture). I used some of those techniques to put the photographs back together with different types of surgical suture. For one photograph, I used dissolving suture. After I sutured the photograph, I immersed it in water. The suture dissolved, leaving traces where the suture was- a scar of sorts.
Beaded works: This body of work respects and honours the beauty of the surgical process. The gold beading in each photograph augments and highlights different aspects of the surgeries I photographed, from the concentration of the surgeons, the lighting, and the different lines made by the tools, fabrics and tubes. The gold beading also adds a warmth and richness to the sterile surgical rooms depicted in the photographs.