Barbara Campbell

Leeches are both performers and artisans in The Grimwade Effect performance. They go to work on me, crafting my leg in the process, while I convert their work into a body monitoring system. In order to perform, the leeches are given a “stage”: the historical context provided by the watercolour hanging nearby; the specially commissioned jewellery I use to handle them; the hand-crafted glass aquarium which holds them and the research undertaken to procure, handle and dispose of them. All these conditions create a context for their performance quite different from that which they perform either in their “natural” state or in medical applications. Barbara Campbell