CRAFTIVISM/EXHIBITION: playing doctor by shannon gerrard

The installation PLAYING DOCTOR brings together various components of Shannon Gerard’s multimedia project, BOOBS & DINKS: Early Detection Kits.

The softness and humour of PLAYING DOCTOR aims to eliminate some of the fear surrounding self-exam of one’s own precious privates. The nature of this project changes as viewers experience it. At first the kits seem like cute and hilarious toys (tee hee, boobs and dinks!) but then as people play with them, read the booklets and find the lumps, the experience shifts. Even though the plush multiples contain a sinister possibility—garden pebbles stand in for possibly malignant tumors—interacting with the project is a strangely calming practice. PLAYING DOCTOR tries to touch people's fears and human underbellies through the ultra feminized, "soft" form of crochet, through playful interactive video and performance, and through the revelation of the artist’s personal experience. Broadly, the project initiates conversations about our bodies and confronts the idea of human frailty.

Partial proceeds from the sale of the BOOBS & DINKS: Early Detection Kits are donated to the Ontario charity Cottage Dreams (www.cottagedreams.org) which connects recovering cancer patients with donated cottage spaces in Haliburton and the Muskokas.

Additional information and images can be found at www.shannongerard.org

PLAYING DOCTOR runs:

April 3 to 26, 2008
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 3, 7pm to 9pm
Open Studio
George Gilmour Members’ Gallery
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 104
416-504-8238
office@openstudio.on.ca
www.openstudio.on.ca
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 12pm to 5pm

Photo by Jasmine Fitzwilliam