The Wellcome Collection’s “Medicine Now” exhibition is a permanent display, that’s closing in April. So you have just a few weeks left to visit it.
It’s been on the first floor of the building for 11 years, so not a bad run for a display that can both enlighten and at times, turn stomachs.
The aim of the exhibition has been to present a range of ideas about science and medicine since Henry Wellcome’s death in 1936. In that it’s more reflective of the experiences and interests of scientists, doctors and patients than a collection of “discoveries”.
It focus on the body, genomes, obesity and living with medical science.
(c) Wellcome Collection
Among the exhibits is a printed copy of the human genome, in a wall filled with white encyclopedias, and more gruesome (and the most photographed), a huge, amorphous blob of realistic-looking human fat, complete with hideously swollen legs and blotchy, irritable sores. It’s a sculpture by John Isaacs and a commentary on modern day obesity.
It’s deliberately unidentifiable, leaving only the huge mass of fat to see, as that’s often what people focus on when seeing an obese person — not the person, but the fat.
(c) Wellcome Collection
This massive lump is probably the most famous item in the exhibition, but the rest of the floor is filled with interesting titbits to peek your interest.
Just visit before it closes.
After 11 years, this exhibition will close in April 2019. A new permanent exhibition will open in its place in September 2019 and will cover contemporary issues in health, with new objects, artwork and interpretation.
The gallery is open daily, except Monday and is free to visit.
