The Art Gallery and Museum is located in the Royal Pump Rooms, which was used for the delivery of medical treatments, including hydrotherapy and physiotherapy, from its opening in 1814 to the mid-1990s. I was invited to explore, as artist and curator, the building’s history from 1948, when it was transformed into an NHS treatment centre, until its closure.

Drawing on the personal stories of patients and staff, I produced a memory of the building and its former function, creating new work in response to the medical history collection at the Museum and the original decoration of the building’s interior. In reworking these objects, images and treatments, I investigated the contrasting experiences associated with medical treatments, including healing and fragility, pleasure and pain, comfort and fear. Newly commissioned works were exhibited alongside objects and photographs from the medical history collection.

The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue, with essay by Frances Lord, Curator and Art Consultant. Click here to read the essay.