ABSTRACT
In February 2020, artist-researcher Louise Ann Wilson underwent a radical hysterectomy and surgically induced menopause. Divided into two parts, this chapter places Wilson’s practice, principles, and theories centre stage. In the first part, Wilson discusses her use of photography to document her surgery and convalescence, a process that provided an unswerving first-hand perspective on a deeply personal and physically, cognitively, and psychologically challenging experience. In the second part, Wilson’s focus shifts to her development of the documentary materials into a series of visual artworks and how this creative processing led to her emplacing – siting or locating – her medical experiences into a quarried landscape in Northern England, UK. She then unpacks her use of digital film to capture the emplacement process and the immersive multimedia installation that has grown from it. To that end, the chapter traces how Wilson moved from an intense personal experience toward creating artworks that bring about better ways of doing hysterectomy surgery and menopause by making them visible and engaging others – patients, medical and health professionals, and policymakers – in the realities of the experience.
