Decay Theory
Decay Theory
2019
Inkjet prints on newsprint stock, enhanced matte and satin blueback paper (various dimensions), single-channel video (00:02:53), vinyl lettering.
Decay Theory concerns the Vipeholm experiments that were conducted between 1945-1954. Six-hundred and sixty patients from the Vipeholm hospital (outside of the city of Lund in Southern Sweden) participated in the studies, which recorded the effect of sugar on teeth. Due to the mental illnesses suffered by the patients, they were unable to give their verbal consent to the treatment they received as part of this experiment and as a result of malnourishment, many of the patients died.
Littlewood employs a mixture of archival imagery with her own studio photography in order to blur the lines between real and imagined. In doing so she creates a visual recontextualisation of this historical event.
Installation images: Gallery Entrance, Göteborg, 2019.