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Annie Tempest is a British cartoonist by trade, the author of  Tottering-by-Gently, a strip that runs in the UK magazine Country Life.  Most recently, however, she's moved into sculpting and had an exhibition in London this past month called "Play as Cast"

Communication

Her sculpting, like so many other artists, became a way to deal with the grief of the death of her son.  Freddy Tempest McConnel died last May, at the age of 18, of a heroin overdose. Annie said in an interview with Louette Harding of The Daily Mail,  "That's how I've been dealing with it. I haven't seen therapists; it's sculpting that has kept me going. Because it wasn't just on 28 May and afterwards; before that, we'd been through the highs and lows of recovery and relapse...It's been hope, crash, hope, crash - heights as well as depths... my sculpture has helped me through."

How many of our patients and families use those same terms dealing with terminal illness? "Hope, crash, hope, crash..." they talk about the roller coaster they're on, even in the last days.

Anguish

 One piece that is not on display is something she did right before he died and about which she had her last conversation with her son.  She says of the piece, "A week before Freddy's death, I knew in my heart he was gone.." She describes it as, "Two figures, fighting to hold on and to let go. It's a goodbye...It looks like a fight, but it's also a hug...It's two adults hugging and pushing. I was a primal scream." She actually sent her son a picture of the piece and his emailed reply to that was her last communication with him, he wrote "Mum, I absolutely understand and love your sculpture, I'm sorry. I so want to beat this. Love, Fred."

Solace and Seclusion

Although I haven't seen the piece, I think this too would be something our patient's families would resonate with.  There is a pushing and pulling when a loved one dies; we want them to stay but don't want them to suffer - what a great visual of a hug/push.

Each of the pieces communicates so well with the use of three dimensional space. I encourage you to see all of the images from the gallery at this link.


As an aside. Freddy was an aspiring musician, and tragically one of the songs he wrote, "Will You Remember Me" is about an early death. You can listen to this and other songs at http://soundcloud.com/user7770177


To read more from the interview with Louette Harding go here. 

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I am a huge fan of Radiolab, and happened to hear their story of the Resusci Anne, or CPR Annie, recently. I thought Pallimed Arts readers would enjoy this as it fits well into our field.

Most of us at some time have at least seen CPR Annie, others of us have actually pounded on her chest, and preformed mouth to mouth as we went through the CPR steps.  The same face has been used since the beginning of CPR training in the 1960s and Annie remains the most popular CPR manikin face.

This face is not just a plastic computer generated face either. There is a unique history to Resusci Anne.  The designer of Annie is Asmund Laerdal, a Norwegian toy maker.  Laedral agreed to participate in this new training idea when friend Dr. Peter Safar, the father of CPR, asked. Laedral, however, needed inspiration and so while visiting his parents he noticed an attractive mask of a woman's face on their wall and knew immediately this would be his model. The face he saw was actually a death mask, known as "L'Inconnue de la Seine"

If you need a refresher on Death Masks, Amber talked about it in a post a while ago. They are plaster casts made of someone's face, soon after death, used as a memento.

"L'Inconnue de la Seine" actually means the 'unknown woman of the Seine'.  The story goes that this beautiful woman was pulled out of the river Seine in Paris in the 1880's.  Her beauty struck the workers at the morgue, so a death mask was created. The reason for her death was guessed to be suicide and from there her legend grew. In time reproductions were created and people captivated by her unknown identity and beauty began to display the mask in their homes as art.  

Her identity to this day is unknown, but this has not stopped her allure. She was a bit of a sensation, especially in the 1920's and 30's, and well known writers such as Richard le Gallienne, Jules Supervielle, Claire Goll  and Anias Nin mentioned L'Inconnue in their works.  

The Radiolab episode commented on the irony of this whole story. The unknown beautiful lady who drowned, is now symbolically resuscitated in CPR classes around the world, over and over again.

I found a deeper irony in my research. Both Peter Safar and Asmund Laerdal had children who required resuscitation. Asmund's son nearly drowned in 1954 at the age of 2, and his Asmund, despite not knowing CPR, was able to revive him. Dr. Safar had a daughter with severe asthma, who had a tragic asthma attack in 1966. Dr. Safar was able to resuscitate her with CPR, however she had anoxic trauma and died several days later.

I would highly recommend a listen to Radiolab's piece, as they interview Laerdal's son and do a superb job telling this story.   Most of all, the next time you do CPR training, remember the story of the "L'Inconnue de la Seine" as you do your, "Annie, Annie, are you okay?"

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There are multiple ways an artist may choose to deal with personal grief.  Some allow the theme of their work to capture their feelings. Artist Motoi Yamamoto has taken his grief work one step further by choosing a medium that itself is symbolic of death.

Yamamoto was in art school in 1996 when his 24 year old sister died, just two years after her diagnosis of brain cancer. Immediately he began to use art as a way to deal with his grief. His exploration led him to the medium of salt, which is a part of the death ritual in Japan. At the end of funerals, mourners are handed salt to sprinkle on themselves as a way to ward of evil spirits.

Not only is salt a funeral ritual, it is also allows his masterpieces to be impermanent. When the exhibit is finished, the piece is destroyed, and visitors are encouraged to take some salt and place it back in the sea. Symbolic, I think, of human life; a masterpiece that must come to an end, and the body returned back to the elements from which it was formed.

To create the works, Yamamoto uses a simple plastic bottle, often taking 50 hours or more to complete. The amount of salt used is expansive, in the range of 2000 pounds and up.

When you look at his installations, it is obvious that the process is tedious and time consuming. This too is intentional, as Yamamoto said in an interview with the Japan Times, "I draw with a wish that, through each line, I am led to a memory of my sister... That is always at the bottom of my work. Each cell-like part, to me, is a memory of her that I call up"

I find the work breathtaking in both the intricacy and the overall finished project.

To see a video of Yamamoto at work see below or follow this link.

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We've discussed some of the more unique ways people are being buried these days, like custom coffins or eco-friendly burials.  I am waiting for the recumbent effigy to regain popularity as well.

An effigy is traditionally known as a representation of a person, and as a form of funerary art, first began appearing in the 7th century BC. It was the Etruscan Civilization of northern Italy that really excelled in portraying humans and this art evolved from just a representation of a human head, to entire figures placed on the lid of the sarcophagus.  This picture on the right is taken from the Louvre. It is entitled "Sarcophagus of the Spouses" from 520-510 BC. The detail of clothing and jewelry from a time thousands of years ago is astounding, but so too is the contemporary way this person was honored in death.

This art form re-emerged in the 12th century, and by the 14th century the effigies began to include hands clasped together in prayer. I find this fact interesting, considering that it was in 1415 that the Ars Moriendi text appeared as a directive from the church on how to die well, focusing on prayer for traits of faith, hope, patience, humility and generosity.

A slight variation on the recumbent effigy was seen in the later Middle Ages, depicting the effigy in the form of a decomposing corpse.  Often called "transi" or "corpse tombs", the purpose was to remind the living that the "good" life was indeed temporary.  These funerary monuments often were in double-decker style, with the proper effigy on top, in robes and crowns, and the rotting corpse statue below.  This picture from Fyfield in Berkshire is from Sir John Golafre who died in 1442.

As the centuries progressed more effigies were done in life like poses, often the deceased depicted reading a book, at a banquet and often depicted in younger days.  This example on the right,contained in Paris at the Louvre, is a classic example of this, as the woman appears quite comfortable reading her book with her dog near by.  Notice though, the "Transi" here, with the naked decaying relief showing an older woman below the effigy.

The most recent recumbent effigies I found were of Herbert Kitchner (1850-1916), pictured to the left, which is housed at St. Paul's Cathedral in London and that of Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) in Nanjing, China.

So, has this funerary art form that has existed for thousands of years finally died off?  Or should we consider the embalming and preservation of such icons as Mao Tse Tung and Vladimir Lenin as modern day variations?  Perhaps even postmortem photography could be considered a branch? Or what of the technique of  plastination... there are plenty of rumors swirling about Zsa Zsa Gabor and Michael Jackson's bodies being plastinated.  If so, this permanent effigy just may be the 21st century's answer to recumbent effigies.

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A death mask is a cast made of a persons face hours after death, a process that goes back to ancient times and was common until the mid 20th century. These are usually done in plaster or wax. The casts are then used as mementos of the dead or to create portraits. (J Edgar Hoover kept a death mask of John Dillinger in his office as a souvenir of his war on crime.) The History Channel made a documentary on the topic, entitled Death Masks.

The documentary focuses on the death and life masks (made while the person was still alive) of several famous historic figures, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, Napoleon, John Dillinger . They then use modern computer scans to create life like images of how the person would look in real life. They go into the process of how the masks are made. A life mask made in Lincoln's time had to set about an hour on the persons face to dry. Not a big deal if you were already dead, but I would imagine a long hour if you were alive. (Below is a death mask of Shakespeare.)

Mostly the documentary focused on what the masks could tell us about the deceased. Was the man shot in Chicago really John Dillinger? Is the dollar bill an accurate portrait of George Washington? It seems that sometimes more than one death mask will surface for a particular person and it is a challenge to find which is the right one. The two life masks of Lincoln, taken 5 years apart (one before he became president and one just weeks before he died) shows a marked decline in his health. The last mask made has actually be confused for a death mask.

The documentary goes into some of the psychology behind the desk masks. "From ancient times, capturing the faces of the dead for all to see was a macabre reminder that we all end up as dust." Death masks were not just meant to be mementos but to serve as a warning to the living. "Death masks in particular are dark. This is not a living person. This is a corpse. In many ways they are a message to the living. They are about your mortality. About this is what you will become. They are designed to frighten in many ways." There are some very frightening death masks shown in the documentary.

The death masks reminded me a lot of the death photography. Both I find interesting but just a bit creepy. I'm not sure I would want either hanging in my living room. (Who wants a reminder of their own mortality hanging above their television?) I think I would much rather of a life mask of a loved one. Remember how they were before death, not after.

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In lieu of Halloween's passing, I find it a nice excuse to visit the macabre. Last year we looked at artist Laurie Lipton's pencil drawings, using skeletons as the subject. This year I've come across an incredibly fascinating artist by the name of Kris Kuksi, who also uses skeletons.

Kris was born in Springfield, Missouri in 1973 and raised in rural Kansas, somewhat isolated from the world. His website says that "the grotesque to him, as it seemed, was beautiful". Perhaps those of us who take care of dying patients daily could say the same about death itself.

His art has become his statement against what he feels is mankind's frivolous and frail focus on greed and materialism. Again from his website, "He hopes that his art exposes the fallacies of Man, unveiling a new level of awareness to the viewer".

The piece "Through Death United"(2007) is done with mixed media. The two central skeletons are placed together like a couple recently wed. However from the title, perhaps just reunited after death. There is a small child's skeleton lying above them. It appears like one happy family. The real treat of Kris's work is in the details. Looking at the pictures, I wish I could actually see these in person and view the action taking place. Little figures climb the woman's leg. Their are animals and houses placed everywhere.

The use of a skeleton to most symbolizes mortality. The personification of death for Kris brings attention to this human fear. "There is a fear of this consciousness because it drops in upon us without mercy, and yet there is a need to appeal to it in order to provide a sense of security".

The other piece to share is "Sanctuary of the Bewildered"( 2009). In this selection the skeleton remains central, however the story of the piece seems less centered on death. I notice there are many wheels, large gas lights, and military figures holding rockets. There also seems to be more nationalities represented in the figures. My interpretation is that in mankind's attempt to create a "sanctuary", or a place of refuge and protection, we've done nothing less with our technology than to create confusion. The chaos in the work is everywhere, and again, the detail just tremendous.

If you enjoy these works, check out Kris Kuksi's website which houses pictures of all his works, including detailed pictures of most of these.

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One of our readers sent this link of an amazing website devoted to pain. Palliative Medicine is no stranger to pain and the Pain Treatment Topics site has a plethora of information regarding pain topics. What our reader pointed out, however, was the website's gallery devoted to patients' portrayals of personal pain.

The site is quick to point out that many of their pieces are borrowed from yet another website called the Pain Exhibit. The Pain exhibit is devoted to personal artwork related to pain. The brainchild of Mark R. Collen, who himself suffered years of under treated pain, he found that art did more to communicate about pain than words themselves. The site is organized into themes such as "Suffering", "God and Religion", and "Hope and Transformation" to name a few.

What I appreciate most about both websites are the inclusion of statements from the artists. It adds so much more to be able to read something from the person who created the piece and the one suffering from the pain.

I'm including just a few of my favorites here. But be sure to follow the links and do some exploring yourself.

Title: Self Portrait, Green Shirt by artist Sterling Ajay Witt.

Artist's comment: "Pain is the beginning and the end of every day for me. I have suffered from chronic pain for so long that I can't imagine life without it anymore. As by back pain increased and the brace came into my life, I found myself painting an increasing number of self portraits. Through them I try to express a feeling I cannot put into words, attempting to explain the torment I am going through. For me, creating art is just something I do to hemp me survive a life of constant pain. It's as if the paintings have become a record of my pain, giving a face to an otherwise faceless enemy." Copyright 2007 Pain Exhibit (PainExhibit.com)


Title: Chronic Pain - Life Distortion by artist Jenny Greiner

Artist's Comment: "I created my vision of what would represent my chronic pain. Beginning with the "eye being the window to the soul," I showed the clear, yet bloodshot eye, shedding the blood-stained tear. Then I realized that this whole living with chronic pain, is very disorienting. Things can start to spin out of control very easily. This represent my pain and the distortion and confusion it brings to my life." Copyright 2008 Jenny Greiner Http://www.drawthepaw.com

Title: CPII by artist Mark Collen

Artist's Comment: "This sculpture represents suffering from chronic pain." Copyright 2007 Pain Exhibit (PainExhibit.com)



This next piece below was actually featured on the cover of The Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacology (2007) Vol. 21 NO. 2 but is also found in detail at the Pain Exhibit website here.



Title: A Liar Is Not Believed Even Though He Tells The Truth by artist M.R. Shebesta

Artist's Comment: "The painting is a representation of the flesh being scraped from my body. Shards of metal appear to slide and cut into the fleshy oil painted canvas that is held into place by intricate lacing of fishhooks and taxidermy floss. The painting floats in the center of a custom wood frame similar to the visual effects of primitive tribes' techniques for cleaning and drying animal hides" Copyright 2007 Pain Exhibit (PainExhibit.com)

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