Christine Borland

The Velocity of Drops: An Hospital, Dispensary, & An Hospital, Staircase 2003

Four framed photographs
69 x 69 cm
Edition of 4
Exhibited Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland An Hospital 2003
Lisson Gallery, London Simulated Patient 2004
CASCA, Adelaide, Austrailia, An Hospital 2004
Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, 2004

The Velocity of Drops is an on-going photographic series using melons dropped in unlikely situations. On this occasion the photographs are set in the dramatic location of a 19th Century stately home, Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute in Scotland. During World War 1, the Bute family initiated the use of their home as a Naval Hospital. For 3 years it treated casualties from the infamous sea battles of the Great War, while the family continued to reside there. The titles of the rooms where the watermelons are located indicate their transformation during this time the Library into an X-Ray Room, the Master Bedroom into the Dispensary, the Conservatory into the Operating Theatre etc.

Download Essay
Attending moments passed: Christine Borland's Conservatory Geraldine Barlow, Broadsheet Volume 33 No 1, Published by the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia as a PDF.