Liza KenrickFemale
lizakenrick@hotmail.co.uk
www.lizakenrick.com
My work derives from researching Parkinsons disease and looking at different symptoms. This then led to me reading 'The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat' by Oliver Sacks, and analysing case studies about different neurological conditions.
One of the patients didn't realise that he was walking leaning 20 degrees to the side yet he felt perfectly straight. He asked Sacks; 'is there a sort of spirit level in the brain?' To which Sacks replied 'yes'. This is where the original inspiration for the metaphor in the image came from, a literal representation of an impairment. It later goes on to describe how one man combated this through using his glasses to create a spirit level: 'Spirit Glasses'. The second image was also connected to the notion of balance; the weight in the pocket was inspired by another anecdote of patients combating the effect of losing their 'spirit level'. The third image is a lower body shot, this also happened to tie in very well with the series making it a collective, head, body and legs which seemed fitting. This was an image of someone struggling to balance on an imaginary straight line; I think it gives off a real feeling of awkwardness. This too was influenced by the book and descriptions of sufferers of Parkinson's painting lines on the floor to try and combat this 'lack of balance'.
