Modern Vanitas - The torment and decay of Duchenne

About

The Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries 'SPACE On Campus' programme is hosting a forthcoming awareness raising exhibition and charity preview event of Modern Vanitas 'The torment and decay of Duchenne'. This powerful and moving body of work is by artist and photographer Tyran Hawthorn, a Duchenne sufferer. Venue: Eldon Gallery, UoP, Eldon Building, Winston Churchill Avenue, Portsmouth PO1 2DJ (adjacent to SPACE) Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy otherwise known as (DMD), is a devastating genetic muscle wasting disease which is caused by a missing protein. Sadly people with this condition witness their muscles degenerating throughout their entire lives eventually leading to paralysis and early death. Families struggle to cope with the diagnosis and day to day management of the condition, for which there is no cure. Tyran, a second year (BA) Photography student in the School of Art, Design and Media uses surreal and experimental images to illustrate his mixed emotions of anger at his condition, juxtaposed with his enjoyment of heavy metal music, horror movies and escapist dreams from everyday life. The 'Vanitas' theme, a type of symbolic work of art especially associated with Northern European still life painting in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries, inspired Tyran to explore objects rich in morbid symbolism such as skulls, rotting food and wilting flowers. Tyran shares with us The majority of the proceedings of my exhibition will be going to a charity known as Action Duchenne, the only national charity that exclusively funds research for a cure and promotes campaigns for better medical care for DMD. The essential work that they do is priceless, and I can only hope that my exhibition will take us one step closer to a cure".