Wednesday 24th April

Collaborative statement

Our aim today was to finish the collaborative statement which we started before easter. As we only had a limited amount of time, we split into two groups; the group working on the installation and the group working in the cabinets in the middle room. This was a good way of working as we had already written the introduction. This method worked well as we only needed a couple of sentences from the two rooms (the middle and the end). This explained the content and concept of our work.

"Materia Medica, is a collective group show by fine art students based in Carmarthen. Responding to 'Medicines in May', the annual event held at the Botanic Garden of Wales, the works explore notions of layering from delicately considered building of metaphorical histories of place, through to the exposure of the fallacies of the methods of which these are constructed."    - This is our first attempt for the introduction.

My group for the installation came up with this as a first draft...

"The installation follows on from the apothecary's room, appropriating medicinal bottle labels as its focus to investigate the history of medical material. The ornately hung enamel labels portray a mystical atmosphere aided by a soft directed light creating reflections and shadows."

This was the second draft of the introduction after being edited by both groups...

"Materia Medica is a collective group show by Fine Art students based in Carmarthen. Responding to Medicines in May, the annual event held at the National Botanic Garden of Wales."

This was the second draft from the other group working in the cabinets edited by both groups...

"Using the context of remedies found within the surroundings of the Apothecary’s Hall, the work investigates the historic chronology of medicine by subtly intervening within the space."

This was a second draft after being edited by the group as a whole...

"The installation follows on from the Apothecary’s room. Its focus is to investigate the history of medical material by appropriating botanical illustration and medicinal bottle labels."

And our final draft of the whole statement...

Materia Medica

The group exhibition entitled ‘Materia Medica’ is a collection of works created by Fine Art students based in Carmarthen, which responds to the annual event Medicines in May held at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.

Using the context of remedies found within the surroundings of the Apothecary’s Hall, the work explores the notion of how we construct histories about past methods and practices through our archival of medicinal plants by way of subtle interventions inside the space.

Drawing upon and responding to the experience of the sedimentary history of the apothecary’s room the installation investigates the history of medical material by appropriating botanical illustration and medicinal bottle labels.