Primum Non Nocere

'Primum Non Nocere' is a Latin phrase derived from the first precepts of bioethics and is taught as the fundamental principle in medical schools throughout the world. Emma Barnard's work was developed through collaborations with consultant surgeons and their patients offering an inside view of real life experience and observations whilst giving patients a visual voice through the touring exhibition 'Patients As People', and reflecting on some of the harsh realities people endure in their pursuit of “getting better”.

Emma Barnard's work expands on the air of mystery surrounding the surgeon’s practice. What goes on in the operating theatre is usually unknown to the patient, who must have trust in the theatrical performance, the surgeon's medical act. However, the surgeons, what kind of harm is being done to them by the immense pressure they are under? The show includes thought provoking materials as well as insights into the surgeon and patient dynamic and theories of “projection” (the unconscious transfer of one's desires or emotions to another person) e.g. the patient viewing the surgeon as a miracle worker. Part of the work is based on the philosopher Michel Foucault's’ notion of the ‘medical gaze’ that denotes the dehumanizing medical separation of the patient's body from the patient's person (identity). Staged photographic and moving image tableaus are set to form a dialog, including artifacts such as biomedical and patient notes & surgical theatre drawings.