Louis Davies spent not days, but four and a half months in hospital in intensive care. It had such a profound impact on his daughter, Lawson artist Fiona Davies, that 17 years later she has created an exhibition about medical dying in ICU.
“A lot of the time family is asked to go outside while they undertake a procedure. You spend a lot of time in hospital corridors, particularly at night,” Davies said.
“It’s quite an emotional time. It’s hard to maintain that level of emotion for that level of time. The work [exhibition] is not that depressing … hospital is fundamental to restore health. The beauty of life is the fundamental business of hospitals.”
Made from 800 square metres of exquisite handmade silk paper, Blood on Silk: Last Seen is now showing at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
It took Davies more than two months to make the huge amount of paper required for the exhibition, which she made in her backyard at Lawson.
The massive turbine hall has been transformed into five makeshift hospital rooms, where stills and moving images are projected across the hanging silk walls, replicating the endless bustle and emotional landscape of hospital environments.
Davies’ artwork has been exhibited in formal institutions and non-traditional spaces nationally and internationally. She is also working on a PhD through the University of Sydney about medical dying in ICU.
Blood on Silk: Last Seen is showing until September 17.
