Hysterectomy: BedRock is designed to imaginatively reveal and express the hysterectomy process from diagnosis and surgery to recovery, surgical menopause, and beyond. This body of work falls into two interconnected phases. The first phase took place in real-time leading up to, during, and immediately post the surgery. Artworks created include a series of photographic, drawn and printed images made to document, process and express the experience. These sit alongside collected materials including MRI scans, texts drawn from my hospital letters, and surgery notes. Together these artworks and medical materials make visible the external effects of the fibroid and surgery (swollen, cut, stitched and bruised abdomen), the interior of my body with fibroid and uterus, and these organs following their surgical removed. They also document my time in hospital and my at-home convalescence, which was long and painful.
As well as functioning as stand-alone artworks this body of work provides materials, inspiration and themes for the second phase of this body work, which is still in the process of being made. This means that the exact nature and form the Hysterectomy: BedRock will take, and how and where the completed works created within it will finally be presented remains unresolved. So, the work shown here is a snapshot of where I am now. What I do know is that I am working towards making a series of still and moving (film) images that might form part of an exhibition and an immersive, multimedia installation that incorporates a bed and other objects, including bed linen, rock, and surgical and /or quarrying equipment, as well as sound and voice recordings that may be heard emanating from within and around the bed.
_-_MRI_Scans_of_my_abdomen_showing_the_fibroid_and_uterus.jpg)
_-_MRI_Scans_of_my_abdomen_showing_the_fibroid_and_uterus.jpg)