Silent Stories

Silent Stories

The Science Museum, London has aquired Silent Stories by Katharine Dowson MRSS which is now on perminent display in the Wellcome Medicine Galleries. The glass busts were created from plaster casts of patients being treated for head and neck cancer. Each bespoke cast was used to make a clear plastic mask for a patient, that would help keep them still whilst having radiotherapy, when radiation is used to kill cancer cells.

Katharine reflects on how the physical and emotional consequences of cancer treatment can be felt by many patients for years. In the accompanying audio piece, she records some of these individuals speaking about their cancer experience ten years after treatment, giving voice to their memories, hopes and fears.

‘I use glass as a metaphor for the imperfection and fragility of life.'

The glass creates the impression of suspended time, a snapshot memory of the moment. The casts capture the patients’ portrait in a moment of vulnerability – echoes of which can be heard in the soundscape.