Frank Swain is a science writer and blogger. He is based in the UK.
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Keep up to date with RSSThis weekend I visited the Trauma exhibition at London's GV Art gallery. The pieces all relate in some way to physical and psychological trauma inflicted on the body, by a range of artists working alone and in collaboration with medics.
Some of the items are underwhelming verging on irritating - placing histological slides on a plinth does a disservice both to art (because there is no emotional narrative contained within) and to science, because it implies that the inherent wonder and beauty of science is absent unless it is repackaged as a gallery exhibit. (Hello? Museums present objects of science all the time, and they are spaces filled with wonder and beauty).
There are, though, some wonderful pieces that make the trip to West London worthwhile: the annual self-portraits of a man suffering Alzheimer's that chart the destruction of his talent with terrifying effect; and (pictured above) the exquisite glass sculptures of microbes - both real and imagined - created by Luke Jerram.
Trauma is free and can be seen at the GV Art gallery at 49 Chiltern Street, London, until February 18.
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