The Imaginary Herbarium of Doctor James Barry

I am wearing the flower of my tongue

learning to be frugal with words.

Inks, pastels and graphite on paper, 2014

Tongue - Source: John Lizars, 1787 – 1860

During the day my tongue speaks words of care.

At night my tongue fondles my lover.

Inks, pastels and graphite on paper, 2014

Tongue - Source: Giovanni Battista Morgagni, 1682 – 1771

I walk my heart on paper

Waiting for the new words to come and visit us.

Inks, pastels and graphite on paper, 2014

Heart, lymphatic vessels - Source: Marie Philibert Constant Sappey, 1810 – 1896

I sink my teeth into my doubts and chew over

Until they fly away like kind birds

Inks, pastels and graphite on paper, 2014

Tooth, vertical section - Source: D.J. Cunningham, 1850 - 1909

I still keep the shy heart of my childhood

among the plants of my garden

Inks, pastels and graphite on paper, 2014

Heart and lungs - Source: Giulio Cesare Casseri, 1552 - 1616

Your nocturnal voice illuminates my labyrinths

Inks and pastels on paper, 2014

Ear labyrinth - Source: Florence Fenwick Miller, 1854 – 1936

I AM AN ANATOMICAL BOTANIST

Great joy and pride: 3 images of my Imaginary Herbaria had been acquired by the Wellcome Collection

https://wellcomecollection.org/works?query=alessandra%20pirovano

For my images I use historical anatomical plates. I paint them with ink, pastels and graphite to compose my Imaginary Herbaria.

It is a joy to unearth some forgotten masterpieces of imagination and precision and take them outside the rooms of private collectors and international auction houses.

The Imaginary Herbarium of Doctor James Barry

A human journey.

Margaret Ann Balkley was born in 1795 and in order to be admitted to university and practice medicine, took on the name of James Miranda Barry (at that time women were not permitted to enter university). She was a great pioneering reformer who fought for better sanitation and medical care for soldiers and their families. She was the first British surgeon to perform a successful Caesarium section in 1826. In 1865, after a brilliant career as General Inspector of Army Hospitals, she died in London. The Imaginary Herbarium is a fictional journal that tells the story of Dr Barry playing with her books of anatomy and writing about her elusive and secluded private life.

Matrilineal - The Imaginary Herbarium of a Mother

Visual history of placentae, turned into trees

Bless me with smiles

It is the story of a secret sea garden where children and animals are waiting to be born and talk to each other about expectations, fears, dreams on their future life.

Born a Third Time - The Imaginary Herbarium of Alexina B

Fictional journal of the 18th century French hermaphrodite Herculine Barbin, aka Alexina B. (Her memoirs published by Michel Foucault) I imagined her writing about the anatomists' inflexible rules on gender.

Also on https://twitter.com/italicseed

My Imaginary Herbaria - A.P.

The Imaginary Herbarium of Doctor James Barry

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I AM AN ANATOMICAL BOTANIST

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