Multi-disciplinary artist Charlotte Fisher explores the experience of being human through metaphor, materials and different processes. Here she draws on her own experience of stroke and stroke recovery, inspired by the plasticity of the brain to heal itself and academic research.

Her work comprises 500 walnuts shells containing clay brains, representing the approximate number of people who will experience stroke in the UK every 48 hours. Digital collage pieces show her own CTC and MRI brain scans merged with iPhone images taken during walks and hours spent in nature for recovery and rehabilitation: an homage to nature’s part in her journey of recovery and in post-traumatic growth and celebration of the beautiful brain. Charlotte says:

“The phrase ‘in a nutshell’ is believed have come from the writings of Roman philosopher and naturalist Pliny the Elder who suggested that Homer’s epic poem,The Iliad, was written on a piece of parchment so small it could fit inside a nutshell! As unlikely as that is, the amazing human brain with some 86 billion neurons does fit neatly within the human skull. Thus, the nutshell has become a vessel to hold and protect something as beautiful and complex as the brain. Clay represents brain plasticity and potential to self repair and each has been moulded to fit their shells - A strangely therapeutic and life affirming process.”

Accessible in the window gallery 1-31st October (24 hour display)