Misbehaving Bodies: exhibiting illness

• Main Author: George Vasey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Science Museum, London 2021-01-01
• Series: Science Museum Group Journal
• Subjects: curating illness; exhibiting lived experience; healthcare; sickness; cancer care; chronic illness; oreet ashery; jo spence; representation; moving image; medical photography
• Online Access: http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/browse/issue-14/misbehaving-bodies/

The essay explores the process of curating Misbehaving Bodies: Jo Spence and Oreet Ashery, an exhibition held at Wellcome Collection from May 2019 until January 2020. The exhibition brought together two artists of different generations who explored the representation of illness and care narratives from the perspectives of patient and lived experience. The project was co-curated by Bárbara Rodríguez Muñoz and George Vasey. The Wellcome Collection challenges how people think and feel about health and this essay explores how the exhibition built upon those ambitions. The text addresses how the content of the exhibition was supported by the various exhibition elements: narrative, process, architecture and design, interpretation and live programming. ‘How we die is how we live, only more so’ (Ashery, 2016)