Eli Craven

First-Aid and The Living Anatomy explores an emotional tension between the desire for intimacy and fear of human contact. The project started with a vintage first-aid manual that sat on the bookshelf for around ten years. During the initial Covid-19 lockdown in the Spring of 2020, medical texts and first-aid manuals in my collection sparked new interest. While searching through these instructional books for images of healing and human care, I felt a deep anxiety about the intimacy of the images, particularly the illustrations of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, blood transfusion, and examinations of the body. Looking at these pictures of doctor and patient, healer and the sick, their faces close, almost touching, I realized I had developed a fear of closeness, a fear of medical care, and a fear of human breath. I re-framed the prints using mirrored brass sheets and wood panels to distort, disrupt, and expand the original compositions, creating works that exist somewhere between image and object.

Website elicraven.com

Manikin

Manikin (Alternate View)

Venous Flow

Venous Flow (Alternate View)

Mouth to Mouth

Mouth to Mouth (Alternative View)

Head in Hands

Cravat Bandage for Eye

Bandage for Finger

Revive