Doreen Garner takes an unfettered and unfiltered approach to highlighting the historic medical traumas violently applied to black bodies many times without consent. Through sculpting and dissecting materials, Garner calls to the fore a history and public complicity in the United States with systems of objectification, racism, and untruthful narratives. Moreover, Garner is intent on leveraging her artistic practice as a vehicle to commemorate black people who were enslaved, medically tortured, and racially oppressed.

Garner aims to present works and performances that one cannot unsee. One example is the replica statue of Dr J. Marion Sims, a white man known as the “father of modern gynaecology”, who implemented torturous experimental procedures on enslaved black women without anaesthesia or consent. This was a controversial set of events that is not well documented in history, but once the viewer experiences them and becomes aware, one begins to see the true impact of Garner’s work. This is one of several examples of Garner’s use of her artistic practice as a tool for storytelling and course-correcting historic narratives.

Known But To God: The Dug Up, Dissected, and Disposed for the Sake of Medicine, 2017
Glass, silicone, steel, epoxy putty, pearls, Swarovski crystals, whiskey, 30.48 x 20.32 x 20.32 cm
Courtesy of the artist and JTT, New York

Known But To God: The Dug Up, Dissected, and Disposed for the Sake of Medicine, 2017
Glass, silicone, steel, epoxy putty, pearls, Swarovski crystals, whiskey, 30.48 x 20.32 x 20.32 cm
Courtesy of the artist and JTT, New York

Known But To God: The Dug Up, Dissected, and Disposed for the Sake of Medicine, 2017
Glass, silicone, steel, epoxy putty, pearls, Swarovski crystals, whiskey, 30.48 x 20.32 x 20.32 cm
Courtesy of the artist and JTT, New York