"X-ray Visions: Drawings and Prints from an Artist Residency at the NYU School of Medicine," Works by Laura Ferguson, Through August 13

On through August 13th at MSB Gallery at the NYU Health Sciences Libraries:

X-ray Visions: Drawings and Prints from an Artist Residency at the NYU School of Medicine
MSB Gallery, June 11 - August 13, 2012

What if we could look into the body’s inner space with a kind of enhanced x-ray vision, without the need for dissection or medical imaging – perhaps lit by candlelight, with an eye to the beauty within? As an artist at NYU’s School of Medicine I’ve worked to create this kind of personal vision, making drawings in the Anatomy Lab and from 3D radiology images of my own body.

Art looks beneath the surface of life, and for me the place to look has always been the body. A curving spine – asymmetry at my core – means that for me, walking, moving and even breathing require conscious effort, an engagement with the workings of my bones and muscles, nerves, and senses. Drawing myself lets me work from the inside out, to visually convey the feeling of inhabiting this particular, individual body, and the many ways that personal identity and even consciousness are rooted in physical experience.

I see my work as following in the Renaissance tradition of Leonardo da Vinci and his great anatomy drawings, informed by the new ways of seeing made possible by contemporary medical imaging technologies. As a patient with a lifetime of x-rays, I was always fascinated by these mysterious, shadowy pictures – but felt disconnected from a part of me that seemed to belong more to my doctors than to me. As an artist I’ve been able to reclaim this hidden territory for myself, and hope my work can bring viewers to feel a deeper sense of connection with their own unique inner spaces.

Learn more about the floating colors process.

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