THEATRE 37

The residency within the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh began following a chance encounter with Mark Hughes, Consultant Neurosurgeon, and Ruby Marshall, lecturer in soft robotics, at the opening of my degree show last year.

 

In October 2024 I observed my first surgery in Theatre 37. Over the following months, I attended theatre weekly, witnessing close to twenty complex operations ranging from spinal surgery to craniotomies. Some surgeries lasted a couple of hours whilst others took all day and involved collaboration from surgeons across multiple specialities.

 

As the first artist in residence within the Department of Neurosurgery, I had complete creative freedom as to what this work would document and in what form. After observing only a handful of operations, it became clear the message I wanted to portray: in an exceptionally sterile and clinical environment, what stood out to me was the humanity, compassion, and teamwork.

 

I began the residency by drawing whilst in theatres, sketching the multi-disciplinary team and surgical environment from life, constrained by the space and materials that logistically could be used. Despite not knowing how long a surgery would take, I always stopped drawing as the operation drew to a close, capturing busy moving scenes as the theatre staff functioned around my set up outside the sterile field.

 

I approached this residency from three perspectives: as a member of the public, afforded a rare and privileged access to the operating theatre; as an artist focused on forms, movement, composition, and lighting; and as someone who also has extensive patient experiences myself. Whilst my own encounters with the hospital and the operating theatre are not connected to neurosurgery nor the inception of the collaboration, they inevitably influence how I approach this subject.

 

The intersection of art and medicine underscores the profound human connections that define our approaches to care and creativity. I hope that this project sheds light on the unseen space that is the operating theatre and demystifies the experience for patients and their families.

 

It was a privilege to witness this side of medicine, and I have taken great pride in capturing the inner workings of the operating theatre through the artworks in this exhibition.