A Picture of Health
As part of A Picture of Health, a joint project between the Medical Research Council’s London Institute of Medical Science and MA Art & Science at Central Saint Martins, Phil Barton has been working with a group of scientists to develop an artwork which will
A Picture of Health depends on human beings living in harmony with the life support systems sustaining us – the air we breath, the water we drink, the food we eat, the weather we experience as well as the economics that support us, the culture that nourishes us, the medicine that treats us and the rights that we enjoy. Individuals are an integral part of complex systems – and so are the trees.
A Deep Connection was made in creative dialogue with scientists working on Diet and Lifestyle, the Health of Trees and Environmental Impacts & Aging and Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection.
Scientific collaboration
The artist is grateful for the scientific and creative contribution to developing A Deep Connection by Sybelle Ermler (Brunel University), Enrique Castro-Sánchez (Imperial College), Ian Willey (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew), Claire Robertson (Westminster University), Lucy Brown (London Institute of Medical Sciences), Solange Alves (Imperial College), Catherine Herbert (Central Saint Martins), Charlie Roscoe and Nidhee Jadeja (Imperial College).
Initially supplying medical and environmental research papers we then held two creative workshops to consider the scientific similarities and differences of a picture of health for people and urban trees. Together we brainstormed, wrote poetry, drew and deliberated. Many elements of the finished artwork reflect these interactions.
You can find out more about the project and the exhibitions on the Picture of Health Project website here or the London Institute of Medical Science website here and here.