Clinical Ethereal (work in progress)

 A video of a pulsing white screen and its reflection on the floor flickers in synch with a heartbeat. It stops after several minutes, and then restarts with a different rhythm. Organ transplantation challenges our perception of time in relation to our bodies; our heart may fail but our body continue or we may lose the fight for life, living on in memories of our loved ones and possibly through our transplanted organs. This piece offers a meditation on the push/pull of wondering if your loved one does ‘live on’, somehow. It is about being haunted by the “What if?” In its final form this video will be a large scale projection occupying one full wall of a white room with a glossy floor so that the projection reflects on the floor, reiterating the effect in the video. At this scale it is immersive and the white light draws the viewer in.

The Heart Patient/The Patient Heart (work in progress)

Data analysis of words and phrases used in the 40 hours of transplant-recipient, and donor-family interviews reveals a pattern of regularly repeated descriptions that point to the inadequacy of language to describe the complex experience of organ transplantation and donation. Here five-word phrases are listed in order of frequency on giant floor-to-ceiling scrolls.

The final format of this piece is yet to be determined. I am currently still working with the data and am collaborating with Joe Loureiro a Senior Investigator at Novartis to apply sentiment analysis.