Mending and Anatomy: I’ve got holes on the heels of my socks, on the fingertips of my gloves, on my elbows, on my knees, at the folds and seams of my jeans, where my backpack rubs against my shoulder Parallel Practices, Dr Richard Wingate and Celia Pym, Dissecting Room, Kings College London, 2014. Sponsored by Crafts Council, UK and Kings Cultural Institute

L-R: Tamsin van Essen, Kirsty Masseti, Stella MacDonald, Richard Wingate, Lara Veitch, Elizabeth Rose McLean, Leah Masih, Helen Barraclough, Dione Lotner, Lolu Oluwole-Ojo, Iain Clark, Nicole Perl, William Pickles, Celia Pym, Afshan Khan

A Mending Project in KCL’s Dissecting Room. The project placed mending next to the study of anatomy through dissection of human tissue. Students and staff who use the Dissecting Room (DR) were invited to bring damaged clothing (and bags) to be mended and repaired at the ‘mending desk’ which was set up in the heart of the DR. In between the mending and the studying there were conversations about the generosity of donors and their families to give their bodies; gifts in general; taking time to care for things; how amazing the body is; how strong the smell in the DR is; becoming doctors; becoming surgeons; grandmothers; feeling queasy; being gentle and other matters.  Celia Pym was artist in Residence at the KCL Dissecting Room Autumn 2014 and Spring 2016 Parallel Practices Blog  Film How the Other Half Live

Photographs by Michele Panzeri