Client: Royal College of Surgeons’ of England
Medium: Watercolour and Digital
Anatomy of an Athlete Exhibition (London Olympics 2012)
The Hunterian Museum, at the Royal College of Surgeons’ London was looking to create an art exhibition involving anatomy and sport to run in conjunction with the London Olympics 2012. Needing to find anatomy artists to create artwork for the exhibition they approached The Medical Artists’ Association of Great Britain.
The planned ‘Anatomy of an Athlete Exhibition’ was to be held in the Hunterian Museum and was to be open to the public. The overall theme for contributing artists was ‘exploration of the anatomy and physiology of elite athletics using different media and sporting disciplines, on subjects such as the role played by sports regarding exercise, medicine or surgery’. Joanna Culley as a professional member of the MAA was one of four artists chosen to create original artworks for this exhibition.
Joanna chose to demonstrate the ‘benefits of exercise’ to show the anatomical changes in response to exercise. Using Hockey as the theme the next stage was to see players in action. Permission was granted to watch the Hockey Team GB at one of their training sessions in preparation for the Olympic squad and we were even able to choose a player who we could use in our illustrations.
We found Hockey an excellent choice to study as it was relevant to three factors involving the benefits of exercise. This was muscle strength, cardio and mobility. It was obvious when watching the team play, that strong shoulder muscles were key to a hockey players’ ability. Holding the stick, needing strength and speed to maneuver the ball, to hit the ball and to have the flexibility to bend, rotate, swerve.
Cardiovascular was another illustration choice as sprinting over 90 minutes during a match, means your heart must be used to extreme exertion. To reach this level of fitness requires a level of fitness that is achieved through years of training and cardio work.
And lastly the knee, where exercise helps build strong supporting muscle and ligaments, that in the long term will help sustain the knee even into old age. The knee is a joint that benefits from continued movement, stretching, and exercise.
The exhibition proved to be a great success. Thanks to the Hunterian team and Team GB Hockey Squad and Coaching staff for their assistance in this project. In particular, thanks to APOS Therapy the sponsor and to Courtney Kipps the Principal Clinical Teaching Fellow and Honorary Consultant in Sport and Exercise Medicine Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health, University College, London.
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Dr. Sam Alberti | Director of Museums and Archives Royal College of Surgeons of England, London
