Arts, Society and Medicine
The genesis of the 'Saving Faces Art Project' and its impact on patients, clinicians and the public
Wednesday 15 April 2015 6 - 7.30pm
Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole St, W1
Free. Pre booking essential.
Friends of the RA book first
Professor and surgeon Iain Hutchison tells us about his ‘Saving Faces Art Project’, which charts the physical and emotional journey of patients undergoing facial surgery, and his work with BP National Portrait award winner Mark Gilbert.
For the second annual ‘Art, Medicine and Society’ lecture organised jointly with The Royal Society of Medicine, we welcome Professor Iain Hutchinson, Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon at Barts Hospital, who specialises in head and neck cancer resection and the reconstruction of patients with severe facial deficits. He founded Saving Faces, The Facial Surgery Research Foundation in 2000 which leads international research and clinical trials into the treatment of oral and facial diseases.
Through this foundation, Professor Hutchinson funded the 'Saving Faces Art Project' which invited artist Mark Gilbert to carry out a three-year residency at Barts, where he produced a series of paintings portraying the faces of patients before, after, and in some cases during their surgery. These 30 portraits culminated in an art exhibition which has since toured the UK, Europe and USA. They have had a dramatic effect on the public and proved cathartic for the patients who participated.
The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.
6pm registration, lecture at 6.30pm.
Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole St, W1