War and Medicine

War and Medicine was a touring exhibition designed to consider the continually evolving relationship between warfare and medicine, beginning with the disasters of the Crimean War in the 1850s, and continuing through to today’s conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Central to the exhibition was the uncomfortable and sometimes paradoxical relationship between war and medicine and the question of their influence upon each other. The research explored how humankind’s desire to repair and heal is perpetually striving to keep pace with our capacity to maim and kill. My contribution to the exhibition development was through a commissioned primary research expedition to consider a contemporary context within which the ethical and logistical challenges of militarized healthcare were being encountered. In late 2007, I accompanied the Royal Army Medical Corps and the Royal Marine Commandos in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. On my return two new artworks were produced as central elements of the exhibition. The installations used immersive and display techniques to reference the dislocation of experience within the military care-pathway.