BODYWORKS

Bodyworks
This was a solo exhibition shown at Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, which selects and showcases the work of contemporary and emerging new artists. The images were shown as part of The Format International Photography Festival, Derby (2013); a print was also selected for the Royal Photographic Society’s annual print exhibition (2013)

Research Imperatives
Initial research explored technological advances in the manufacture of prosthetic limbs over a seventy year period from the 1940s to the present day and included devices made for the victims of war, accident and disease.

Despite the huge advances that have been made, particularly in the last ten years, the research found that there was still demand for prosthetic limbs made to designs dating back to the 1940s; these were primarily for people who had been issued with such limbs many years ago but did not wish to update. Craftsmen manufacture these traditional limbs from wood, metal and leather, exactly as they were made to supply the seriously injured survivors of the Second World War.
The research focused on one such prosthetic limb manufacturer that continues to produce both traditionally made and modern limbs. Wenham-Clarke explored every corner of the factory which allowed him to locate significant objects that conveyed a narrative of both the patients and the workers. Many of the objects found and recorded had been stored out of sight for decades.

The images exhibited in Bodyworks high-lighted the craftsmanship and the many tools used to manufacture the limbs. They record images of a dwindling work force, the last of their kind as no new workers are being trained, operating within a factory that was originally built for a staff team fifteen times bigger than the present day. They also reflect public interest in morbidity and its fascination with the artificial.