St George’s Hospital Project
Daniel, Cameroon, Africa · 104 × 46cm · 2004
Collection: Victoria & Albert Museum
Stephan, Northern Ireland · 91 × 45cm · 2003
Collection: Victoria & Albert Museum
Throughout her career, Hawrysio has consistently challenged the traditional boundaries of artistic authority by surrendering control of the printing plate to others. Whether knocking on doors in rural Ontario with an offset lithograph plate under her arm (Perth Road) or inviting patrons of a Nashville café to mark a plate (Nashville Series), her practice is defined by a sustained interest in collaborative participation. Between 2002 and 2004, this approach took on a different weight during her residency at the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic at St George’s Hospital, London.
In this series, Denise provided patients with large etching plates, inviting them to externalise traumatic experiences that were often beyond the reach of verbal communication. The resulting works are intricate hybrids: the patient’s direct hand-drawn marks are layered with Hawrysio’s photographic etchings, creating a dialogue between raw memory and aesthetic counterpoint.
The project often functioned through a logic of juxtaposition. For Stephan, a former soldier in Northern Ireland, a scene of carnage is placed against a purely scenic mountain backdrop. For “Jim” (Dr. Barclay), a plane crash in a forest is met with an idealised woodland. However, the most poignant exception was Daniel, a Cameroonian torture victim held in a secure unit. Unable or unwilling to discuss his trauma in English, Daniel spent a year — interrupted by several breakdowns — completing an intricate, idealised drawing of his home village. In a deliberate reversal of the series’ typical structure, Hawrysio combined Daniel’s vision of home with her own photograph of a Nairobi slum.
Of the five participants in this project, three were able to complete the arduous journey of returning a finished plate. The final prints stand as a visible negotiation of trauma — a record of directness and unmediated simplicity that bridges the gap between the professional artist and the lived experience of the survivor.
