A Bout de Souffle: Simultaneous Pulsations and Reminiscences of Killer Fog

Following an invitation to participate in an exhibition that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the great smog I became particularly interested in the space opened up by the anxiety induced by reduced visibility and disorientation. I completed and exhibited a series of six new paintings (36X28 inches) under the collective title 'A Bout de Souffle: Simultaneous Pulsations and Reminiscences of Killer Fog'. These works took eyewitness accounts of real events as a starting point to develop a series of paintings that spin a web of connections between the lived, recollected and imagined. The paintings are each exhibited beside a printed version of the anecdote from which they originated.
In developing the new works I was aware of an historical fascination with fog by artists like Whistler and Monet and writers like Connan Doyle and Dickens.

The exhibition was the fourth in a series of exhibitions at LSHTM that brought artist’s interpretation into the field of medical science made possible by, financial support from the Wellcome Trust and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. My aesthetic research for this project relates directly to my continuing interest in handling social subjects beyond the tradition of documentary representation. This attitude is expressed in the preface to the exhibition saying of the artworks “…scientific fact may appear to be diffused, concealed or transformed in order to reveal other kinds of insights and meanings. The meanings and feelings that these works evoke are surely complex, suggesting positions and visions perhaps peripheral to scientific enquiry yet provoking fresh readings and intersections between science, art and life.”