Cervical cancer is important to every woman. In the UK approximately 3,000 new cases are diagnosed each year and around 1,000 women die from the disease. Despite the publicity surrounding Jade Goodyʼs death in 2009, for many women the illness is still shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding. This collection offers the opportunity and space to explore and talk about this hidden cancer.

Heavy Words is an intimate exhibition that weaves a visually stunning narrative drawing on medical imagery, personal stories and everyday experiences of living with a potentially life-threatening disease. Using a variety of media including photography, medical light boxes, womenʼs voices and a velvet draped room, the viewer is taken on a journey from testing to diagnosis, through treatment to outcome.Developed over three years in close consultation with women who have been diagnosed with the disease, the work is thought provoking, moving, humorous and challenging by turn. It is also filled with hope – an enthralling experience for all those who see it.

ʻA very detailed, genuine investigatory and topical project. An innovatory way of applying art to science to inform/question/engage/create a dialogue/empower the patient.ʼ

Sciart reviewer, The Wellcome Trust.

During the six days of the exhibition, approximately 200 people came to see the show, many staying for long periods of time to talk to the artist about her work. The feedback from the audience was extremely positive and plans are now underway to get the exhibition toured nationally.

Reviews and comments from Centrespace Gallery, Bristol

ʻMany artworks and exhibitions examine the human body in its beauty,brutality and grace. But not many address the body in the context of medicalimagery and disease. I found the exhibition to be poignant and revealing, bothhonest and uplifting in examining women’s experience of cervical cancer. Thevoices and faces of these women provide a complex and truthful picture of theexperience of illness. The immediacy of the visual displays and sounds forcesthe visitor to the space to engage with the women as real and whole persons,thus resisting the tendency to medicalise and objectivise them as ‘patients’.Despite the daunting subject matter, I left the exhibition feeling a sense of reparation and admiration for the women who participated in creating it. I hope this exhibition will be viewed by as many people as possible thus encouragingan open public discussion of some of the issues raised by this valuable work.ʼ

Dr Havi Hannah Carel, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at University of the West of England

Other responses from visitors to the exhibition include:

ʻImportant exhibition; tender and beautiful.’

ʻAn exhibition with real impact and sensitivity.ʼ

ʻI am going to get a smear text ASAP.ʼ

ʻA very powerful collection of work. Well done for bringing this to

the public.ʼ

ʻThoughtful, moving, engaging, shocking and so positive as a woman to see an artist engaged in such a vitally important cause.ʼ

ʻThank you for such a thought-provoking and important exhibition that raises awareness at the same time as being life-affirming – the recorded interviews in particular offer great insight.ʼ* (to be added to the oooh! website shortly)

ʻI liked the exhibitionʼs directness: the contrast of the mesmerising beauty of those ethically impersonal cells with the poignancy of the small stain on that huge white sheet. (I felt uneasy, sad and very vulnerable, and pinned to it.ʼ)

Kamina Waltonʼs previous exhibitions include:

Hidden Images: the secret world of genetic disorders, a collaboration with poet Alyson Hallett, now held by Taunton & Somerset NHS Trust.

KEEP OUT OF REACH, an installation exploring individualsʼ experiences of mental health.

Kamina Walton is also known nationally for her work using photography in education and the community to give people a voice.