Every body is an archive / Liz Orton.

[Place of publication not identified] : Liz Orton, [2019]

1 volume : black and white illustrations ; 19 cm

"Every Body is An Archive is about the body as a medical image. Designed by Valentina Abenavoli, it uses photography, archival material, text and 3D data visualisations to occupy and reimagine the medical image. The moments of vulnerability and stillness, in which we become medical subjects, are so highly regulated and private that they are rarely exposed to public vision. And as patients we rarely see our own images. This book uses re-enactment, appropriation and professional clinical software to visible the spaces and technologies through which bodies become images. It is based on a long-term engagement with patients, radiographers, radiologists and collaborators in University College London Hospital (and beyond) from 2014 to 2018."--From website.

"Every Body is An Archive is an artist book by Liz Orton that uses photography, archival images, text and 3D data visualisations to reimagine the medical body. In medicine, going into the body means going into the image first, yet as patients we so rarely see or understand these images. Refusing the spectacle of the inside of the body, Orton considers questions of surface, technology, access and authorship. The bodies in Every Body is an Archive oscillate between different forms of representation, and include images created by Orton using professional radiology viewing software as well as photographs from an old radiography manual. From the latter we are shown cropped body parts positioned for x-ray by a lexicon of lines, angles and planes. Yet, influenced by wider visual cultures of fashion, these images seem to exceed an objective scientific designation. Throughout the book - printed in a golden yellow colour-sampled from radiology software - words taken from dialogues with patients about their own medical images, read like poetic fragments in search of a language for the body’s inside. The book is based on a long-term project with patients, radiographers, radiologists and from 2014 to 2018, and on a partnership with Prof Steve Halligan at UCLH. It was funded by a Wellcome Trust arts grant. "--From artist.