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John Keats Returns to The Old Operating Theatre

10/2/2025

A 'conversation' with John Keats

My 'conversation' with Keats began in 2019 when a friend gave me a time worn edition of Palgraves Treasury. The poetry book was in poor condition with a loose binding and having lost its cover. I started a series of drawings across the pages and in doing so found myself returning to the poems of John Keats. The following year in early 2020, while visiting The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret with fellow Bookscapes artists, I was surprised to find myself once more in the company of Keats.

A display informed me Keats had studied as an apothecary surgeon and completed some of his training at St Thomas Hospital. The Herb Garret had once been a part of the original hospital. Having provisionally agreed with the museum to create a group exhibition, everything was postponed as the UK went into lockdown.

Throughout that summer, I continued to read about Keats. His life and words resonated with my own circumstances. We were dealing with an extended lockdown, while also adjusting to a series of significant losses. I found solace in Keats words and experiences - in particular his use of poetry to navigate the hardships of life.

His 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 could also allow you to appreciate beauty and that in turn, beauty could evoke a strong emotional response in the beholder. As one of the Romantic poets, he accentuated extreme emotion through descriptions of natural imagery.

In Keats Medical Notebooks, Hrileena Ghosh describes this beautifully;

"Keats had a tendency to concentrate and contrast uncertain, in between regions that straddle past and present, humanity and divinity, life and death, health and sickness, dreaming and waking.
Thresholds are liminal spaces characterised by mutability and transience. Keats poetry is especially alive to this vitality of the threatened. Anything subject to change is also subject to time. Keats frequently employs compassion to manipulate the effects of temporality. Compassion allowed Keats to highlight such contrasts and focus attention on the life and beauty that exists in the shadow of death."

This work began as 'a conversation' using Keats words alongside found text through a process of redaction. The voice of Keats emerges and dissolves through these two volumes. Observations of his surroundings and the natural world become clear alongside an acknowledgement of the of presence of death while also holding on to hope. It is an ongoing project.

Above image shows the work on display at The Old Operating Theatre.

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Bookscapes Collective at The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garrett.

10/2/2025

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'After Dark Vapours Have Oppressed Our Plains'
John Keats

Bookscapes Collective Exhibition at The Old Operating Theatre, 2025.

"After dark vapours have oppress'd our plains,
For a long dreary season, comes a day
Born of the gentle south, and clears away
From the sick heavens all unseemly stains"

These words by John Keats were the starting point for our collaborative work for the Medicine and Superstition Exhibition. Given its beginnings started in January 2020, our plans were abruptly placed on hold by the Covid 19 pandemic. we felt Keats words resonated perfectly with that unprecedented year - they speak of hope and healing.

Gathering our research and thoughts together, we proceeded to explore the historic use of knots. Knots have been part of our everyday life for millennia. Alongside their practical uses they have attracted many superstitious and magical properties. Evidence suggests that knots were among the earliest and most important prehistoric amulets. The relationship between knots and amulets is an intimate one. Their power is ambiguous - they bind or release, create or destroy and have the capacity for both good and evil. We settled on exploring this fascinating subject with an emphasis on healing and protective properties.

Knots are essential for suturing the body after surgery, the practice forming a fundamental part of contemporary surgical training. Charging a ward' is the process of using an object as an anchor point for energy for the purpose of protection and spiritual defence, rendering an everyday object or material into an enchanted or empowering object. Energy is gathered and focussed onto the object for holding and releasing slowly over time. When we cross our fingers, tie a knot to remind us of something, or talk of how we are tied or bound to people or places, we are evoking this long history of knot work and superstition.

This collaborative installation of knot work was made with positive intention and focus by the group : Jules Allen, Heather Hunter, Jo Howe, Jen Fox Karen Apps & Chris Ruston.

Letterpress Print by Jules Allen. Printed at the Norwich Print Museum

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Medicine & Superstition, The Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garrett.

10/1/2025

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Written Amulets

Ista Scribataur Medicina (Let This Medicine Be Written) This work explores the utility of textual amulets and the healing power of the written word. Charms and enchantment formed a significant part of healing practice in the medieval period. Written texts were carried on the body, folded into clothes as a means of healing and protection. Written words made the power of transitory chants and prayers more enduring, offering safe passage through a turbulent world.
This work comprises 365 drawings, one for each day of the year. In acknowledgement of the medieval ideas of textual amulets, letterforms have been used to create drawings on transparent pages which echo fine parchment, creating a palimpsest of words and symbols of protection.

The Museums edition of the Medical Journal, The Lancet - Experiments with New Remedies.

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Medicine & Superstition The Old Operating Theatre & Herb Garrett

10/1/2025

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The Senile Heart

'A lifetime burning in every moment'
TS Eliot

Heart symbolism and myths have a long history. Heart shaped amulets have been found in burial sites across the world, suggesting their use as symbols of life and protection. During the Middle Ages, the heart was not just a symbol of love but was also believed to be the container of emotions, thoughts and even one's soul. People believed the heart held a person's life story and that good deeds and bad deeds were recorded within it. It is where the expression to 'learn by heart' comes from. the belief led to various superstitions and practices surrounding the heart, including heart burial, using hearts in folk magic, and even consuming them in sacred rituals.
while modern medicine has demystified much of the function, its symbolism remains deeply ingrained in human culture. while our understanding of the function of the heart has advanced, it is interesting to note that today's heart surgeons can insert what id referred to as 'an Amulet Occluder' into the area of the heart where 90% of stroke producing clots form.

The Book Of Life
The Hand We Are Dealt

Blood is often referred to as a life force due to its crucial role in sustaining life. It transports oxygen and nutrients to organs and tissues, enabling them to function properly. This is essential for everything from muscle movement and digestion, to thinking and fighting infection. Blood also carries away waste products, maintaining the body's internal balance. Essentially blood id the conduit for life, delivering what's needed and removing what isn't.

it also carries hidden messages- 'wild cards', that can be unpredictable passing on inherited diseases, like heart disease, and creating unexpected events. We therefore all live with 'the hand we are dealt'. this work considers our internal world that shapes our health.