transfigurative illumination

Xrays 1998 –2000: 35 x 42cm.

The process of making these art works was achieved with the assistance of a radiologist both at the Hospital and later at a University. Plaster casts were taken from people, then reconstructed and taken into a radiology school to be X-rayed. Plaster has a similar density to bone, and can therefore be picked up in Xray. In recreating the image of the body with a sense of its own life force and volition, I was challenging the medical model of compart-mentalising and pathologising the body.

I have intersected boundaries, to reverse the image of the physical body in clinical diagnostics. The chemical processes of the X-ray resurfaces the identity of the individual being scientifically investigated. The formation of a two dimensional image from a three dimensional form, which can be seen from all surfaces, is a rare event. It is magical to be able to see through the figure in this sense, and yet still determine its outer form. Visually the image demands concentration and interaction to read its shifting sense of form from a surface to an object. I felt these works embraced ideas I had of the body as a corset for light.

The title's use of the word 'transfigurative' refers to the notion of illumination after death, creating a reference to the idea of transformation and revelation through light.