SomeBody, introduction

 

   So, an unexpected turn to events. Just as I thought that the medical work had finished I was asked to create a new medical model.  Imperial College was launching an anti-knife crime project aimed at young people and needed a model rather like the Textile Body (see most posts below!) but in full colour. 

  Then we went into lockdown. However, 18 months later I handed over the SomeBody, a large double sided textile book full of physical and emotional anatomy.It is designed to inspire both surgical and empathic insight into the terrible violence that many young people face.

  A lot of time was spent researching what I could make that would be meaningful to young people and also be practical as a public engagement piece. There was also the anxiety of the pandemic to wrestle with and this was sometimes an almost insurmountable challenge.

 The process was long and labyrinthine so I shall set it out as a list of thoughts; it is by no means a timeline as I tend to think in 'cloud' and then draw out meaning like spinning yarn!

1.what does it look like?

2.research book construction

3. re-evaluate the Textile Body

4.materials?

5. watch psychology videos

6. research what other organisations have dome

7. research how the body is represented in different cultures

8. double-sided? re-think everything

9. sketchbook

10. design , re-design, re-design, re-design, re-design,

11. make samples

12. how much silk??????

13. make, make, make, make

14. collaborate with Rachael Matthews on two parts of the book.

15. visit the Wyvern Bindery who will be making it into a book.

16. have anxiety attacks about whether it actually works.

17. deliver to Imperial College and hand over to Rachel Warr to work out the performance aspect.

next up: the skin layer.

Spare Parts

 

 Paul Craddock has just published his book "Spare Parts: A Surprising History of Transplants". His extensive research into the history of the techniques of surgery found us both examining antique embroideries at the V&A museum and later led to filming me stitching cigarette paper. 

This post shows that film    

In the film clip above Paul discusses what is was all about.

and now you can buy the book!

Nanna

   

 

  Many years ago when my great grandmother was still alive she told me of how she had gone over to Belgium just after WW1 to see my great grandfather who was working in a field hospital there. She told me how 'the ladies' had made her a piece of lace and the movement she made with her hand as she told me suggests to me that she meant a piece of needlelace.

 She was, by then, over one hundred years old and though still living at home it was mainly in one room. At the memory of this story she got up and went into her bedroom now long abandoned, a memory room quiet and almost sanctified in its stillness. The suite of furniture was Edwardian with an ancient bakelite light switch hanging over the bed, now covered over with a dust sheet. At the dressing table she rummaged in the drawers, full of long unused items,toiletries and clothing. She was looking for the lace.

  One hundred years after her trip I, a needlelace maker, have been working with vascular surgeons. The work was initiated because of the historical connection with Alexis Carrel, a Belgian surgeon and creator of the vascular anastomosis ,who learnt stitching from his mother and other embroiderers and lace makers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

   We never found her piece of lace but I found it's effect on the world.

Bertha and James Ellison

Image of a needlelace jabot made in 2012 ,click here for more.

What's Wrong, the movie

What's Wrong from Paul William Craddock on Vimeo.

What's Wrong

  What do we mean by 'wrong'? Creative people, craftspeople, curators and conservators all have a particular understanding of wrongness. They also have a language to express it which is both enlightening and useful.
  I had noticed though that to extract this language it was necessary for them all to have their tools or materials in hand before you got to the really interesting stuff. After several good chats with surgeons I realised that the same was true of them. This led me to thinking about what would happen if I got them together with those mentioned above and see what would happen. Would they agree? Would they speak the same language or would their criteria be too different?

 

 On November 15th 2019 I did just this. It wasn't the first time that some of them had met but now I wanted to really get deep into their expertise.  I wanted to know how they judged wrongness; was it context? was it colour based? was it a combination of their senses....a mix of sight and touch? I wanted their 'word hoards'. I wanted to see if  we could share this language with others both to express why creativity is important to all and to help others communicate 'what's wrong'.
  The group comprised of surgeons, artists,craftspeople, musicians,historians, a conservator, a masseur and a magician.

Joseph Magnus Stack  'Italian Ruin Landscape...'

We tried out each others skills,we discussed colour and texture,

we examined strange packages in object based discussion,

we considered the value of old materials,

we looked at reactions to synthetic and unfamilar objects,

we discussed empathy with the organic and the inorganic,

surgical glove photo by Cara Baker

and we filmed it all......(watch this space) but in the meantime you can binge watch on catch up....

2014 Thread Management

and 

2016 Thinking With Your Hands

The Epiploic Cube film

Fleur's Cube (Final Cut) from Paul William Craddock on Vimeo.

The Touch Test

 

This week Prof. Roger Kneebone and I were featured on BBC Radio Four's programme 'The Touch Test'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000dfp3

talking about the Textile Body and about touch in surgery.

(To listen you may have to sign into the BBC's i-player service).