Hanno Steckel & Ashkan Sahihi

The inspiration of this book originated from the Hospital Drawings by Barbara Hepworth, created in the late 1940s. Following the hospitalization of her daughter, Hepworth produced a series of drawings illustrating surgeons at work in operating theaters. Her drawings focus on the craftsmanship, the skills, the rhythmic movements of the surgeons’ hands and are very powerful and full of passion. She said in a lecture: »There is, it seems to me, a close affinity between the work and approach both of physicians and surgeons and painters and sculptors.« At a time when surgeries are calculated in minutes and procedures are forced to be economic, the beauty and the grace of the surgeries are at risk to get lost in perception. That triggered the idea to transform the themes of craftsmanship and surgical skills by photographs to modern times. The result is this photobook, entitled The Operation Theatre, created in honour of Hepworth.