About This Project
Digital Anthropology to Understand the Body in London
Overview
In this project, I focused on a unique collaboration between a textile artist and surgeons. Born from this collaboration, in 2016 artist Fleur Oakes created the Textile Body. This highly tactile and visual body illustrates the complexities and subtleties inside of our brilliantly orchestrated human bodies. It does so in an approachable way utilizing layers of colorful textiles to convey her experiences of the body from observing surgeries. This body has served as an educational tool in London for hundreds of people both in the medical and art communities, as well as the general community. On this website, one can learn more about the collaboration, including the Textile Body, through their online presences in London on the digital archeology page!
My primary mode of engamement was ethnographic. I engaged in observation, both formal and informal interviewing, and secondary research online.
Research Methods
Who?
Artist Fleur Oaks
Textile Artist, Embroiderer
Artist in Residence at Imperial College London's Vascular Surgery Unit
Research Fellow at Victoria and Albert Research Institute
PROFESSOR ROGER KNEEBONE, M.D
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Surgery & Cancer
Professor of Surgical Education and Engagement Science
MR. COLIN BICKNELL, M.D
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Surgery & Cancer
Clinical Senior Lecturer
MS SAMANTHA GALLIVAN, M.D
Senior Clinical Teaching Fellow in Medical Education (MSEC)
PAUL W CRADDOCK, Ph.D
University College London, Surgery and Interventional Science, Honorary Senior Research Associate
Smart Docs film production company
Where?
Fieldwork Sites
Art Workers Guild
Fleur's Studio
St. Mary's Hospital
Identified Textile Body Sites
Research Questions
How might we engage in digital anthropology when performing ethnographic research at an offline sight?
How might artists and medical professionals collaborate to experience, educate, and construct the body in London?
What might we learn?
Body Insights
It is interesting to note that two of the individuals I spoke with indicated that they disliked the term "embodiment," both stating that it assumes a dualism of mind and body. Further, that there is not "disembodied knowledge" as the body is always present whether apparent or not.
People's experiences of bodies in London vastly differ through the many ways of knowing and experiencing them. For a textile artist observing surgery, its strata are different kinds of fabrics and textures of incredible variations of color. For a surgeon, the multitude of colors may have never been remarkable due to their focus on other aspects, or perhaps they have become muted by repetition and through time. A surgeon Fleur has collaborated experiences the body in greyscale, a skillful adaptation for reading nuances in X-rays, Ultrasounds, and CAT scans. Other surgeons see colors outside the body firstly as organs. Amused at the differences in perspective, Dr. Bicknell explained to a group of surgical residents that Fleur sees "burnt umber sunset" and he sees "pancreas color." Rather than navigating the inside of the body by landmarks of tendons, muscles, joints, blood vessels, or internal organs, Fleur navigates by color. An example of her perspective is the direction of, "past the peach, blue, pink bit, there is a kidney."
Rather than seeing blood vessels being connected or repaired, Fleur sees threads and delicate vintage lace. Resulting, Dr. Kneebone has utilized the term, "vintage veins' when speaking to students or members of the community. This linguistic cross-pollination appeared frequent in observation and research, both online and offline between Fleur, Dr. Bicknell, and Dr. Kneebone, as well as Dr. Gallivan and Paul. Dr. Kneebone states that we experience through what we know, and people observing the same thing experience it differently. He often poses this in various contexts through the framework of the ambiguous drawing of the rabbit (or duck) stating often, "In his practice Colin sees ducks, and Fleur sees rabbits." While their sensorial experiences of the body are different, their expert training and skills with fragile materials and thread connect them very closely. Similarities emerge with uses of tension, material navigation, and material disaster. They each are acutely aware of the risks when navigating their delicate materials, "balancing function and aesthetic" in the same ways, Dr. Gallivant observes. Paul refers to this skillful ability as "material transcription" Use of body aligns their practices as well, Fleur mentioning that she can tell precisely how surgeons are fingers are moving and feeling while in surgery by looking at their forearms and wrists. Dr. Bicknell says that without ever having performed surgery, Fleur handles the layers of the Textile Body with her hands more skillfully and delicately than most surgeons do with layers of the body. This collaboration has brought to light for those involved many insights and transferable skills that have improved their practices and pedagogies.
Following the digital archeology link on this website, one may find online reflections of these acumens from members in the collaboration and others who have entered their operating spheres and Textile body's.