Farrell and Parkin: Black Room

This exhibition marks White Columns’ ongoing commitment to showing under known mid–career international artists. Collaborators Farrell and Parkin exhibit frequently in North America, Europe and Australia, they are based in Australia.

Farrell and Parkin will present Black Room 1992/93, photographs of constructed staged tableaus with models, based on medical history,

Farrell and Parkin Black Room These theatrical presentations recreate images of medical apparati and complex bandaging, which often appear quite torturous. The artists use latex prostheses co recreate the faces found in the original reference materials, returning these injured beings : “life.” The bandaging techniques re.fleet the common types of wounds, before the invention of gun powder. The apparati designed for medicinal purposes convey a sense of suffering and cruelty coward the patient who was intended co help. In representing the medicalization of the body, and the history of science creating the body as an object, the artists lead us co consider the origins of our current relationships between ourselves, our bodies and the scientific/medical communities.