The portrait of Yia-Yia (fig. 1), my Cypriot grandmother, imitates the techniques of Paul Cézanne. It was painted in 1999 and has since hung on a wall at home. 15 years later, the project Pathotones was created as a potential art therapy tool for cancer patients. A common creative process unites the portrait with Pathotones, and in turn Cézanne’s painting.
Cézanne worked using ‘patches’ of colour, with each patch relating precisely to all the others. Through the interaction of the colours, the harmony of the picture as a whole emerged. A non-harmonious intervention, such as placing the wrong colour in the wrong place could spell disaster. “Like paintings, organisms are spatial units in which various parts interact to form an integrated whole. Our ability to breath depends on interplay between nervous system, muscles, skeleton, and lungs. Changes in just one element can have harmful consequences” (Coen, 2012). The same can be said for the mutation in genes.
The physicist, David Bohm, saw the world as ‘plasma’, in which individual behaviours are made possible through the existence of the collective, and the collective by virtue of the individual. His ‘Implicate Order’ (in which there are infinite levels of reality or flux), is born from quantum theory, and was probably inspired by the following story about Cézanne:
‘Cézanne was painting a portrait of the art dealer, Vollard…he left a tiny patch on his hand empty, saying “if I were to paint that I would have to repaint the painting…to touch that, I would have to change the entire painting” so enfolded in this tiny little area is implicate the whole painting, and the whole painting is implicate in this tiny area. He thought we could produce a radical change of order and consciousness, transforming DNA and even possibly the status of the material world.’ (Peat, 2006).
This can be interpreted as ‘the move from object to process’. In Pathotones, the ‘object’ could be the image of a tumour, and we engage in the ‘process’ through art therapy (creativity, spirit), potentially transforming the body. Like Cézanne, whose ‘new order’ in painting came out of sensations in the body, discipline can allow you to unfold these sensations.
Like Cézanne’s ‘patches’, Pathotones was created using what are called ‘patches’ of code. This is also analogous to proteins, whereby each protein is composed of a string of molecular subunits called amino acids. The protein’s properties depend on the precise order in which its amino acids are strung together (like patches in the game code). If any patches are placed incorrectly, or have the wrong connection, the game fails to operate properly.
“Cancer results from an accumulation of mistakes or abnormalities in genes that normally control cell survival, growth and migration. It is a genetic disease, and as we age, our genes, like our body, become more vulnerable. Others acquire epigenetic modifications – affecting the way a gene works rather than its content” (Finlay, 2013). The latter is affected by environmental factors that can be controlled, such as through diet, or potentially art therapy.
The ‘why’ of art (or the role of art), in this case, is to operate as a therapeutic tool in the realms of mind and matter. The game is intended to explore our ideas of the inside of the body. Through art, ‘seeing’ inside the body can be realised. Pathotones also allows us to ‘see’ tumours in a less shocking way. As James Elkins stated, “when confronted with such objects, our eyes no longer obey our conscious wishes” (1996). Death may be the hardest thing of all to see, but art can provide catharsis. This game is therefore intended to encourage the individual to harmonise with nature.
What does it mean to see death? Aspects of death are terrifying, so we tend not to see them, and avoid thinking about them. This exhibition and game are a way to ‘see’, confront and change the way we engage with illness. “We try to think around death, like a proposition in mathematics an abstraction. See it as impersonal like it only happened to people in the obituaries” (Elkins, 1996). Cancer is impersonal, but through discipline we can unfold the sensations. Like meditation, the game is a form of attention training, which rejects everything that might distract from your task (game). The display is thus intended as a way of making illness visible, without discomfort, and perhaps even revealing a process of empowerment that can alter your condition.
An Ultrasound image is an abstraction of a 'real' object, a sensation made visible through reflected waves, like Cézanne’s landscapes reflected light. The game view takes you inside, and confronts you with nature (e.g., cancer). “The material is transformed if the work is successful” (Anish Kapoor). After all, nature is a process, not a world of objects. If you dialogue with nature, it gives you an example worth a thousand (Peat, 2010). Like music, the Universe can be seen as a harmony. Pathotones encourages you to play your own tunes. With a positive approach there is even potential to change matter:
“Ever since I can remember there has been pessimism in the world...people have always said, “we’ll starve...we’re doomed” But we’re still here. Complacency is the killer. You can only help others by being strong…if everyone put all their ability and enthusiasm into their jobs, life would be better. It might be lousy...but do it for god’s sake! My mother was the greatest optimist of all, of course...Some people are tired because they want to be tired, but my mother had the most marvellous philosophy. She used to say, ‘if you’ve got your health and strength, every day you get out of bed is a holiday’” (Bill Shankly).
My mother used to say something similar, “no matter what happens, if you have your health, everything will work out in the end”.
1
Pathotones References:
Coen, E. 2012. Cells to Civilizations: The Principles of Change That Shape Life [Accessed 20 March 2015]. Available from https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1400841658
Elkins, J. 1996. The Object Stares Back; On the nature of seeing. United States: Harvest.
Finlay, C. 2013. Access to Understanding, Europe PubMed, British library. A two pronged attack to stop cancer in its tracks, pp. 16-17.
Peat, F. D. 2010. Lecture at Falmouth College of Art.
Peat, F. D. 2006. Synchronicities and Epiphanies. WIE Unbound Lecture.
Shankly, My Story, The Autobiography. Centenary Edition, 2013. Great Britain: Trinity Mirror Sports Media.