Art meets science at Hong Kong medical museum exhibition

A human-sized wing forged from steel and wrapped in white bandages lies on a wheeled hospital bed in the centre of a low lit room. The work of art called Rescusitation first appeared as an image in Zhang Yanzi’s mind the day she began her artist’s residency at the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences.

Contemporary artist Zhang’s solo exhibit, which opens this week, marks the 20th anniversary of the museum, which has come to symbolise love, devotion, and sacrifice to the Beijing-based artist, who is haunted by the story of a surgeon found dead at the foot of the balcony in the old Edwardian building years ago.

The building, in the historic Tai Ping Shan neighbourhood of Sheung Wan, was Hong Kong’s first purpose-built public health and medical laboratory, opening as in 1906 a Bacteriological Institute to find cures for the plague, which had decimated the city. In 1996 the building was converted into a museum.

“I was touched by the sacrifices of the doctors who used to work here,” says the artist who is recognised worldwide for her self-reflective meditations on pain, healing and the esoteric beauty of the medical world.

The suicide of a Scottish surgeon Cecil Robertson, living in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation, also underpins Zhang’s complex feelings towards the heritage building. Robertson was remembered for his love of watercolour painting alongside his medical contributions to the community.

From Zhengjiang originally, 48-year-old Zhang was a sickly child who made regular trips to the local hospital, often by herself. She says she came to find her contact with medical paraphernalia rather comforting, especially as her father, who worked as a vet, often keep his tools at home.