FINE ART : WATERCOLOURS AND DRAWINGS

Title: Illustration (injuries caused by proximity to an explosion)
Object Name: Medical Illustration
Maker: Mahood, Helen (Primary maker)
Mahood, Helen (maker)
Mahood, Helen (maker)
Date Made: 1972-1978
1972-1978
Place Made: Northern Ireland: County Antrim: Belfast: Royal Victoria Hospital
Royal Victoria Hospital
Description: Drawn by Helen Mahood during her time as medical artist in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, 1972 – 1978. The illustration itself depicts the impact of an explosion on the human body, and would have had several acetate sheets that were laid over the top to show various possible injuries. The artist was asked to create this image by the senior medical staff in order for them to teach colleagues about the types of injuries they were going to have to deal with as the bombing in Belfast increased in the early 1970s. The RVH, because of its central location, has become a site associated with the violence of the Troubles. Both because of the victims it treated, who were injured elsewhere, but also because it became a target itself. Upon offering this donation Helen Mahood has discussed working at the weekends on level 9 of outpatients; “which overlooked the Falls Road, I was advised to keep well away from the windows in case I was perceived as spying for the army and targeted shot by a sniper”.
Materials: Pencil
Charcoal
Chalk
Catalogue Number: BELUM.U2015.7

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