Cambridge artist makes patients' scars 'glisten with gold'
- Published
Patients' scars have been filled in with gold leaf
An artist has made patients' scars "glisten with gold".
Carol Holliday, 65, from Cambridge, said she was inspired by a Japanese process called Kintsugi for the artworks on display at the city's Addenbrooke's Hospital.
The ancient technique involves mending broken ceramics with gold.
Ms Holliday worked with photographer Ryan Davies to take the patients' pictures and then applied the scars in those images with gold leaf.
The psychotherapist and former University of Cambridge lecturer said: "When people talk about their emotional distress, they quite naturally talk in terms of being broken, fragmented, cracked, damaged... shattered, so it lends itself to Kintsugi.
"It demonstrates powerfully and quite simply that despite what has happened, your experiences can be lived with and they can be lived with well."
Artist Carol Holliday said she was inspired by a Japanese technique called Kintsugi which is about honouring a break or imperfection, not hiding it
Ms Holliday said people's scars showed their "experiences can be lived with"
She said the 11 patients involved were of all ages, ethnicities and had different scars.
The 65-year-old said she had 100 patients, from Addenbrooke's and elsewhere, volunteer to be involved in the project.
Fiona Carey, photographed playing wheelchair basketball, said she was "genuinely quite proud" of her scars
Fiona Carey, who has metastatic kidney cancer, was among those who took part.
She said her inverted-V scar that goes from hip to hip and up to her sternum, which has been opened up four times, was "glistening now with gold".
"It looks really quite amazing," said Ms Carey, who was photographed playing wheelchair basketball, which she plays in a national league.
"I've always been quite cool about my scars; I'm genuinely quite proud of them as a sign of what I've survived over the years.
"The artist was incredibly sensitive as well."
Photographer Ryan Davies worked on the project with Carol Holliday
The Kintsugi inspired portraits can be seen at Addenbrooke's until 9 October
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