Courtesy of The Whole Brain Atlas,
© 1995-1997 Keith A. Johnson and
J. Alex Becker.
(click on image to view 66k mpeg movie)
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Acute stroke, speech arrest, MR-PD Courtesy of The Whole Brain Atlas, © 1995-1997 Keith A. Johnson and J. Alex Becker. (click on image to view 66k mpeg movie) |
Science for Art’s Sake
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"My mind gallops in a tundra..." by Ellen Driscoll and Jim Richardson, from Mum's the Word © Ellen Driscoll (click on image to see more examples) |
The experience of brain injury is eloquently captured in Ellen Driscolls' collaborative project, Mum's the Word. Aphasia, a communication disorder often caused by a stroke, can leave its victims unable to speak, read, comprehend, or write. Driscoll spent time with volunteers from the Aphasia Communty Group in Boston, encouraging them to give form to their experience through images and words. Driscoll, whose father also lived with the disorder, prompted the poetry by providing lists of words to select from, and made silhouetted portraits of each individual, which are incorporated into the work and evoke the brain's divided hemispheres. The resulting banners were hung across bridges in Boston this summer, a poetic reminder of those who struggle with this disorder.