SKIN 2003 index

I view medical images as a kind of alternative portraiture. Far from idealized pictures of perfect specimens, these images are about flaws. Flaws are common in nature and sometimes contribute to a more evolved species. Today science is working toward the genetic removal of flaws. One day images like these will become part of a nostalgic archive of an imperfect existence.

When looking at medical images it is easy to forget about the subject. Science drains them of their human qualities. For me, working with them is a kind of sympathetic healing. Their simultaneous beauty and repulsion affirms an inherent dichotomy that we hesitate to map in laboratories.Views Sympathetic brings medical imagery and artistic portraiture into the same context. In all there are over 70 images grouped by face, torso, and back. All are derived from medical archives circa 1900, that have passed into the public domain.