ARTISTS TALKING

Vanda Playford was born in 1957 in Leeds. She first studied medicine and worked as a general practitioner in inner-city London for over twenty years. Playford started working as an artist in photography in 1995 having completed an MA in Photographic Studies at Derby University. More recently she has turned to video.

Previous photographic practice centred around a critique of the nuclear family, including her project The Model Family (1995) and The Presence of the Past. Other photographic work sought to develop a practice of portraiture in relation to performance as seen in her series Pink Personals (1999). Her work has been shown in the UK, Europe and the US, and is in number of private collections.

Changing direction

In 1999, Playford began an MPhil programme at the Royal College of Art (RCA), taking a sabbatical from her work as a doctor. This was funded by an award from the Department of Health allowing a one-year break with pay.

For the following two years she self-funded her studies part time, while continuing to work in a group practice in London's East End. This was a difficult period for Playford as she balanced her medical work and her artistic research, and she became determined to find a means to study full time.

Application

In 2002, Playford successfully applied to the AHRB Competition C while in the process of transferring from MPhil to PhD. She was awarded course fees and maintenance grant for two years - £10,000 per annum maintenance inclusive of London weighting.

The application process itself was slow and laborious, as it involved writing and rewriting her research objectives in consultation with her supervisor and the Department of Photography at the Royal College. There were times where she almost resented this process, but feels that for an application to be successful, it needs detailed presentation of the applicant's goals in relation to potential outcomes.

PhD structure

At the RCA, the Fine Art PhD programme is composed of two components of 50% each, one a written thesis and the other composed of art practice. This gives a larger proportion to the written element than many other universities, and clear division into two portions is not typical of practice-based research programmes.

Playford's theoretical research explores the concept of the symptom, the symptom as part of medical history and how this might relate to the body and representations of the body. This connects to her experience and practice as a GP by re-situating the diagnostic and narrative actions in an artistic context. Her studio work using photography and video examines ritual and narrative in relation to medical practice and the body.

Institutional resources

Being part of an institution, and one as highly regarded as the RCA, provides Playford with a network of support, both practical and academic. Teaching staff are open to questioning, and link her to experts and researchers. Access to other institutions and resources can be easily arranged.

Playford's practical and theoretical research for the PhD, her making and writing, exist with a certain degree of independence from each other. There are days or weeks when she is doing mainly one or the other. At the same time, the ideas being explored affect choices in the making of her video and photographic works.

Developing career

Playford's embarking on a programme of structured academic research coincided with a reconsideration of her career, and has become a catalyst in committing herself to her art practice.

The AHRB award allows Playford now "to be an artist", meaning she can commit to her practice full time. This change brings with it some anxieties, as she lets go of medicine, after two-and-a-half decades of working in the field. But it is not a complete letting go, as the practical experience as a GP feeds into her research, and the outcome of that research impacts on the field of doctor-patient communication.

Changing roles

The theoretical research on the symptom, which Playford is engaged in at RCA, has led to a 'loosening' of her work as a doctor. In her examination of patients, she now feels she is "reading symptoms as metaphors".

Her looser approach draws on developments in narrative-based medicine. This movement with a basis in social-anthropology and psychoanalysis emphasises storytelling, and listening to and crediting the patient's story, over more traditional evidence-based medical approaches: "I am interested in breaking away from the mind-body split inherent in the teachings of western medical practice".

Combinations

The two components of the PhD, the written and practice elements, create different demands, and also require different approaches. Research questions addressed in the theoretical component need to be presented at the outset. Students need to demonstrate their research skills, and present a methodology for this research. As an academic piece of work, the written component needs to make an original contribution to knowledge.

Of the relationship between academic and practical elements, Playford says: “In both your practice and writing as a student, you are expected to show a critical reflection on the two distinct practices”. In the process of research the student will demonstrate how their questions address the existing body of academic knowledge, and how in the course of their investigations these questions will evolve.

Speaking of the half-and-half PhD model, Playford describes how the usual expectations of the fine art student, or practising artist begin to affect the writing part of the PhD: "In your studio practice you are expected to be in the work, and in your writing they expect you to be present also". In some ways this conflicts with a more traditional model of detachment or objectivity on the part of the academic researcher.

As artists begin to engage in this type of research, they bring approaches from their studio practice. Playford says of her creative work, “I am expected to come into the frame”. In her practice as a GP the convention is for the doctor to remain apart, in an objective or detached manner similar to the academic researcher. The challenge for Playford is to break that taboo and to be engaged both as a doctor and as a researcher.

Future objectives

In her most recent work, Playford takes live recordings of consultations between herself and volunteer patients and re-works them into narratives for actors to use in filmed re-enactments. The process takes the narratives away from a biomedical context into a performative arena and opens up a context for thinking of the body both in relation to the social, and in relation to storytelling. Playford hopes that she will be able to present the PhD research to other GPs when completed. She explains that, "while any such end use was not the motivation for my initial investigation, having found that the experience was beneficial to my practice as a doctor, I feel that I should share this".

Vanda Playford is represented by Foxyproductions, New York.

Update 2006

Vanda Playford completed her PhD Re-configuring the Consultation: Ritual and Story Telling in General Practice at the Royal College of Art in 2005. Her twoscreen work I am trained in how to care about your feelings, 2005, relates to a surgical operation of an elderly woman, Joyce, who has a blockage of her intestines. The two screens contrast how a patient is treated according to when they are conscious and under anaesthetic – in an overly child like fashion whilst awake and seemingly in a brutal manner once unconscious. She is represented by Foxy Production, New York, USA.

Mark Leahy

Mark Leahy is a freelance writer, acedemic and arts administrator in London where his areas of interest include performing and visual arts. He has worked with Bobby Baker, Artsadmin, LIFT and Gresham College, and is a Visiting Lecturer at Middlesex University.