Organ donation is now part of daily life in the UK, and its benefits are well known. However, there is a significant proportion of potential donors who specifically refuse to allow their corneas to be donated despite being willing to donate all other organs at the time of their death. While acknowledging the overwhelming importance of the restoration of sight for someone who is blind and needs a cornea, the concern regarding corneal donation for some people is so great that the social and moral pressure to donate cannot overcome it.
The exhibition presents the practice-based research of Jennie Jewitt-Harris, who investigates this unique phenomenon through a variety of media. She draws on her professional experience in medicine and psychology to inform her practice. Through her drawings, collages, sound-art, assemblages and stereo photography she explores the findings from interviews with people who feel unable to donate their corneas after death but are willing to donate all other organs.
Jennie Jewitt-Harris has been a PhD student at UCA since 2014 and the exhibition is the culmination of her PhD investigation.
For further details please visit www.jenniejh.co.uk
(Exhibition closed for examination: Monday 21 October)