BODY

Robb was commissioned by Creative Exchange Artist Studios who developed the  BODY Project which was an artistic exploration of the physical and mental challenges that we experience through our bodies’. It was a collaborative project with Robb working with her husband and photographer George Robb. For this work they choose to focus on their grandson Scott who was born premature and was seriously ill for a long time. The artists have used various media to explore the complexity of both his and their family’s experience.

Living With Scott – 1% Hope Installation

The basis of this installation was to address the lack of knowledge of the short, medium and lasting impacts which many premature babies undergo. Scott’s conditions are by no means the worst or the best outcomes, however, they are typical. The work focuses on our family experiences as Carers for Scott and conveys the many conflicting emotions and medical conditions that he has experienced. The complexity and array of conditions and accounts are translated in a simple, uncomplicated visual form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Content of text on the babygro 

‘Our first Grandchild, son of Maria and nephew of Samantha, James and Mitchell is 3-year-old Scott. When Maria was 23 weeks pregnant her waters broke and she was told that Scott had only 1% chance of still being alive in her womb. At 31 weeks Scott was born, a miracle by all account, nonetheless it was unclear if Scott would survive or if he did what effect he would have on our lives. Scott is medically out other side so to speak (nearly), however, we are coming to terms with what disability he has in the short, medium and long-term. Our experience of life with Scott’s has been a combination of highs, lows, optimism, fears, happiness and worry. The strongest emotions being love fed by never-ending hope. As Scott advances into childhood it is important to acknowledge as a family of what we have went through, grow with him and learn from our experiences.’

Look’ it’s me – Painting, Self Portrait & Expressions – Photographic installation. Many of Scott’s conditions will be overcome in time, however, the photographs and paintings are self portraits and are an exploration of Scott’s long-term disability. He has impaired vision, which will never improve. At the time of doing this work they did not know the extent of the damage and what he could see or how he could see it. Stemming from this was a curiosity of how Scott determines who you are. Is it sight, sound, smell etc? The work moved on to a generalisation on how much visual information does a person need to make a decision of who it is they see and what message are they conveying (happy, sad, angry etc.). These works focus on features of the face; in the case of the painting it also addresses scale from a child’s perspective.