A 'Conversation' with John Keats.
The Complete Works of John Keats Volumes I & II
A Redacted Book of Drawings
The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garrett
A Redacted Book of Drawings
The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garrett
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Medicine and Superstition exhibition offers an opportunity to return Keats to the site of the old St Thomas Hospital where he once trained and worked as an Apothocary surgeon. Now famous for ‘putting down the lancet’ in order to focus on writing, his poetry offers solace and healing through his observations of the human condition and the importance of our connection to beauty and nature. Words are powerful - they help shape how we think of ourselves and understand the world around us.
In these two volumes of poetry, through a process of redaction, the voice of Keats remains unmistakable, it ebbs and flows, merges and dissolves alongside words/drawings that inevitably reflect my own thoughts and experiences.
Keats medical training under the famous surgeon Astley Cooper, had emphasised the importance of observation and experience. This approach greatly influenced his outlook and thoughts on the nature of suffering - of which he had witnessed much as a doctor and also experienced at a personal level.
Keats expressed the idea that physical and mental pain could sharpen the senses, and that this in turn, can also sharpen the senses to beauty. Beauty can evoke a strong emotional (and potentially healing) response in the beholder. His experience as a physician, allied with his compassion for suffering is what allowed Keats to write on the life and beauty that exists in the shadow of death.
In these two volumes of poetry, through a process of redaction, the voice of Keats remains unmistakable, it ebbs and flows, merges and dissolves alongside words/drawings that inevitably reflect my own thoughts and experiences.
Keats medical training under the famous surgeon Astley Cooper, had emphasised the importance of observation and experience. This approach greatly influenced his outlook and thoughts on the nature of suffering - of which he had witnessed much as a doctor and also experienced at a personal level.
Keats expressed the idea that physical and mental pain could sharpen the senses, and that this in turn, can also sharpen the senses to beauty. Beauty can evoke a strong emotional (and potentially healing) response in the beholder. His experience as a physician, allied with his compassion for suffering is what allowed Keats to write on the life and beauty that exists in the shadow of death.
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