Ham&High Arts: A new eye for the needle

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A new eye for the needle
BY LINDA TALBOT
May 1, 1998

WITH images such as a crucifixion scene, with the victim's hands and feet
pinioned by syringes, the use of needles in medical history is exposed in an
exhibition called You Won't Feel a Thing, at the Wellcome Trust, in Euston
Road, until August 29.
To coincide with the bicentenery of Edward Jenner's discovery of the
smallpox vaccine, the show explores aspects of needle use from acupuncture
to tattoos through paintings, prints and sculpture.
Aidan Shingler's sculpture Rest in Pieces, in mixed media, is perhaps the
most disturbing, a wreath tops a white cross with imprints of hands and feet
pierced by syringes. The sculptor claims human rights are infringed when a
patient is forcibly injected with neuroleptic drugs.
There is the bizarre - a doctor extracting matter from a sheep for
inoculation in Le Nec Plus Ultra; a colour etching where the title means
literally "the perfect point" but implying one should go no further with
this activity or there may be dire consequences.
Le Cow-Pock or The Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation, by James
Gillray, is even more explicit, showing patients after inoculation, milling
in chaos as they develop unsightly bovine complaints. In the section on
suturing, Erika Itta conveys the rawness of a bypass being sewn on to the
peripheral section of the artery during a triple bypass operation. Inspired
by the story of a patient who had a successful operation, she painted 18
works in this series.
Le Vaccin, by Rousset, after J.A. Faivre, done around 1890, discloses the
sexual connotations of the needle. This reproduction of a lithograph shows a
lecherous doctor with a young woman in a revealing dress. He comments that
he can see two injections that have already taken well. The needle is even
referred to on postcards. As a buxom woman bares her buttocks, the doctor
says: "You will only feel a tiny prick."
There is a pastel portrait of Edward Jenner, by J.R. Smith, with Berkeley
Castle, where he gave his first vaccine, and a milkmaid and cow in the
background. In 1796 he took cowpox from milkmaid Sarah Nelmes to vaccinate
eight-year-old James Phipps against smallpox. There is even a lock of
Jenner's hair on show, and a piece of hide from the original cow used for
his vaccine.
The lithograph of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, an ambassador's wife, by A.
Devéria after C.F. Zincke, is unexpected. She is resplendent in eastern
dress and renowned for introducing a method of smallpox immunisation to
Britain in the 18th century after observing it among the women of Turkey.
Other items include a 19th century walking stick with hidden syringe and
drug compartments and a piece of tattooed skin.
This is certainly not an easy show for the squeamish to take in, but well
worth a visit.

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