Threads of Thought

Threads of Thought is a collaborative project using contemporary art to explore current neuroscience research into consciousness. In collaboration with Professor Murray Shanahan of Imperial College London and Dr. Srivas Chennu of Cambridge and Kent universities I have devised an engaging project including a striking textile and print based installation, a printed comic and a program of public engagement with museum based and outreach art workshops. Work from this project was included in the 2015 Pint-of-Science festival in Cambridge and in Prescriptions, an exhibition at The Beany House of Art and Knowledge in Canterbury 2016. We are seeking further funding to develop Threads of Though as a significant touring exhibition and public engagement program visiting a series of regional museums. How do we define consciousness? What is the nature of our inner world? The project aims to explore these and other philosophical and ethical questions raised by current scientific consciousness research, to include the perspective of patients and families affected by brain injury and disorders of consciousness, to disseminate and interpret the science through art and engage the public and stimulate thought and debate. The project began with a series of prints made from collages of domestic textiles linking to the fibrous nature of brain tissue and inspired by a sense of wonder at the intricacy and mystery of the brain. This work uses lo-tec art processes to bring the science back to the physical world and to question the idea that locating our ‘selves’ in the electrical activity of our brains reduces human beings to mere machines and diminishes our humanity. In response to Dr Chennu’s work with coma patients I created an embossed piece entitled '‘your unknowable thoughts’. The piece requires close inspection to be seen and explores the loss in relationship between coma patients and families as well as the place of ‘unknowing’ where scientific and artistic endeavor begins. I was moved by the search and investigation into the brains of people who are otherwise unreachable and the gold frame denotes the value of human life which underpins medical care and research. My mixed media piece, ‘the search for your spark’ presents a sleeping head in water encased in a thick glass jar. The threads attached to the head look like EEG wires but float and move gently up and around the head among fragments of gold leaf referring to the sparks of brain activity and possible thoughts. Although the head exists in a separate underwater space by shaking the jar we can interact causing movement and response within that world.