The ward.

  • Gideon Mendel
Date:
2022
  • Videos
  • Online

Available online

In copyright

It is possible this item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You may be able to use this digital item under a copyright exception, otherwise you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). These may be identified elsewhere in the catalogue record. Read more about copyright.

Read further guidance on copyright exceptions in the UK.

Credit

The ward. In copyright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

Based on the photographs of patients assisted by their beloved ones, and health workers of the Middlesex Hospital. The photographs were taken at the ward, outside, and at the patients' homes. The static, rolling or fading succession of black and white stills alternate with deep red images of the liquid used in the darkroom developing process. The images are accompanied by original music score.--Description provided by cataloguer.

Publication/Creation

London : 2022.

Physical description

1 online resource (1 video file (21 minutes, 48 seconds)) : sound, colour ; 8.48GB

Biographical note

"With compassion and visual ingenuity [Gideon Mendel] has captured the human experience behind some of the most significant issues facing his generation; from the struggle against apartheid in South Africa to the tragedy and hope of HIV/AIDS through to our global climate emergency."--From artist's website.

Related material

Related exhibition catalogue The ward. (b30063723)
Complemented by (work): The ward revisited. (b33538803)

Duration

00:21:48

Notes

“The story began for me in 1993 when I photographed in the AIDS wards at the Middlesex Hospital in London. All the patients I met, many of whom were young, gay men, were facing the terrifying prospect of an early and painful death. My images focus on four patients […]. They were some of the unlucky ones, who became sick just before life-saving antiretroviral treatments became available. Considering the extreme levels of stigma and fear that existed back then, their decision to allow themselves to be photographed, alongside their lovers, families and friends, was an act of remarkable bravery […]. The work was made originally as part of the Positive Lives group project, produced for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Terence Higgins Trust in 1993 [...]. So for The Ward Revisited exhibition at The Fitzrovia Chapel I made this new single-channel large screen video installation that is both a visceral depiction of the effects of HIV/AIDS on the lives of the individuals in the photographs, as well as a much broader questioning of the essence of photography, along with its multi-faceted relationship to memory, trauma and death” --From artist’s website.
Created for: The Ward Revisited by Gideon Mendel. Exhibition at The Fitzrovia Chapel. 6 Jan – 5 Feb, 2023.

Creator/production credits

Photographer, Gideon Mendel ; Producer, Hannah Watson ; Composer, Andy Cowton ; Editor, Katja Kulenkampff.

Reference

Wellcome Collection 3353879i

Copyright note

Gideon Mendel. All Rights Reserved.

Type/Technique

Languages

Permanent link