'The Patient' examines the embodied experience of the artist as medical patient, and the medical patient as living subject in contemporary art. The word patient has a dual meaning. It describes a state of being — of bearing a situation quietly, without complaint. It also describes a person in a hospital or clinical context, who is ill and undergoing diagnosis or treatment. The word originates from the Latin patiens, which means “suffering, enduring”. For the medical patient, it is a common enough experience to wait, with pain.

The exhibition explores the ways in which artists engage with powerful human experiences in the fields of health, biological science and medicine, contributing to discourse on the representation of illness, disease, care, individual agency and what it is to be human. Artists present new experimental works and ongoing projects across a range of media, connecting to us as viewers (and participants) in ways that are variously difficult, fearless, funny and sometimes unlovely.

Through the work of Australian and international artists, the exhibition deepens our own enquiries into illness and disease, life and death — how they manifest viscerally and psychologically, as well as socially and politically. Drawing on knowledge and research from a range of disciplines such as art, medicine and science, 'The Patient' explores how art has the capacity to impart new approaches to understanding the fluid and rapidly evolving 21st century society in which we live.

Curated by Bec Dean

Exhibition Program