Sian Davey portrait of Samson [2]

Portrait of Samson 2, by Chirag Parmar with input from Siân Davey for Sightsavers, 2020. Samson wears medical scrubs and black sandals, with a blue apron emblazoned with the Kenyan coat of arms and a head torch with visor. He stands against a green background, facing the camera with hands folder in front. This is one of two portraits of Samson Akichem Lokele, who is an eye doctor working with Sightsavers in Kenya and Uganda.

One of a set of 33 prints commissioned for Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries from significant British photographer Siân Davey. Within one set of 12 for ‘Medicine and Treatments’, Davey photographed a series of UK individuals working with the museum, and supervised Sightsavers photographer Chirag Parmar to create this portrait of Samson Akichem Lokele in Kenya. Each sitter was chosen to ask a question about medical treatment. Samson was chosen to consider access to surgery and the trust needed between surgeon and patient. Versions of the portraits have been specially created for the 25-year life span of the Medicine galleries, as life-size physical portraits. These archival portrait prints of each work have been produced specially for the museum art collection by Davey.

Both sets of prints show the varied personalities of sitters. Each person is represented by two different portraits, with a variety of poses and expressions, some with props, and against background colours carefully chosen to work with the wider gallery palette. Some sitters chose to be photographed with family members, whose voices also appear in the oral histories. Some sitters appear with assistive technologies but are not defined by them. Davey’s portraits question what is a healthy or a ‘normal’ body, highlight how medicine shapes, impacts and intersects with the lives of individuals and perceptions of normality, and provoke reflection about the existing collections.