Medically Speaking

There are a few layers to Caroline Wright's relic. It comprises two now redundant slides, a medical image on each, which depict a tumour and the associated measurements, the warmth of a knitted cover that wraps around.

Caroline's relic is tucked up next to Cancer Research in Abbeygate Street. The response is by Phil Barrett.

Medically speaking
the body is
a remarkable place,

with its ability
to repair and replace
blood,
flesh
and bone.

Even organs
like the heart

become
removable,
replaceable,
functions

packaged
like relics
from the past.

While these images,
wrapped-up
in their woolly sleeve
or muff,

white as a babies
first booties,

first knitted cardi,

cot blanket,

or shawl,

preserve
the evidence

that we are
human,

unpredictable,
unfathomable,

after all.

Phil Barrett


Caroline Wright is an artist and researcher whose practice is site specific and realised in various media.  She has made work for cities and rural locations, on beaches and in buildings of spiritual significance, for festivals and for galleries. Her current Doctoral research investigates if the practices of drawing, swimming and writing address the lived experiences of rapid coastal erosion and is based in her home county of Suffolk, England. Wright has exhibited nationally and internationally including commissions for Cambridge University, London 2012, PSi 19 San Francisco USA, Edinburgh Festival, the Law Council and international BAR Associations, Royal Ulster Academy, Southwark Park Gallery and Wysing Arts Centre. Wright is Programme Leader for Fine Art at the Open College of the Arts and a founder member of the Misreading Group. Twitter: @carolinejwright Instagram: carolinejwright1

​Phil Barrett originally trained as a visual artist,, and he was Head of Art at the Purcell School for 27 years. He has won prizes and been published in a number of poetry anthologies; and since retiring has both read and led creative writing workshops, for adults and children, in a large number of schools and libraries in North Norfolk.
 
In 2012 he was instrumental in launching FALCON (Facilitating Art and Literature for Children Of Norfolk) an initiative designed to increase creative opportunities for children, which ran until 2018. Phil currently runs a monthly writing session called ‘Writing On The Spot’, along with an ‘Arts Forum’ at Holt Community Centre, where he interviews people who have made a significant contribution to the arts locally and beyond. In January 2017 Phil published a book of poems, with Grove Publishing, called ‘Writing Me’.