The Wellcome Image Awards, with an exhibition at Thackray Medical Museum, are coming to Leeds. The exhibition, opening to the public on 17th March, will provide a fascinating view into the work of scientists, artists, clinical photographers and illustrators.
Showcasing the best in science image making, this year’s award-winning images include pathways of nerve fibres in the brain, delicate golden scales on a Madagascan sunset moth, and a digitally reconstructed skeleton showing atheroma, the ‘furring up’ of arteries that supply blood to the brain, in someone who has had a stroke.
Fergus Walsh, a BBC Medical Correspondent, is a member of the judging panel and will be presenting this year’s awards. He said: “The Wellcome Image Awards consistently uncover a stunning range of images that not only capture the imagination but help bring complex concepts to life. From otherworldly pictures to intricate close ups, these spectacular images draw you in and tell important stories about medical research today.”
Following the success of previous Wellcome Image Awards exhibitions, held simultaneously at venues in all four countries of the UK and USA, the 2016 winning images will be brought to even more locations. 16 science centres, museums and galleries, will display the images in their own styles to spark imaginations everywhere.
Curator at Thackray Medical Museum, Lauren Ryall-Stockton, said “The Wellcome Image Awards are a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase some fantastic images which bridge the gap between science and art. I am especially pleased to be able to host the exhibition at Thackray Medical Museum as we are the only partner venue in our region, so we are offering our visitors the opportunity to see these incredible images in the heart of Yorkshire.”
The images will also be displayed in Wellcome Trust HQ’s windows in London, and will be made available on the Wellcome Image Awards website. They already feature inWellcome Images collections, where they can be accessed and used along with more than 40,000 other contemporary biomedical and clinical images. The Awards were established in 1997 to reward contributors to the collection for their outstanding work.
The 20 winning images were chosen by nine judges, from all those acquired by the Wellcome Images picture library, in the past year. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on 15 March 2016 where the overall winner will also be revealed. The exhibition will be on display at Thackray Medical Museum from 17th March and will run until the end of the year.
The 2016 Awards will also see the launch of the Julie Dorrington Award for outstanding photography in a clinical environment. Julie Dorrington’s work was instrumental in making Wellcome Images one of the most comprehensive collections of clinical images in the world. The award honours Julie’s contribution to Wellcome Images and the clinical photography profession.
Since 2011 Wellcome Images have also partnered with the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, bringing images of their work into the Awards. This year, each organisation will feature an image from their respective selections in the other’s Awards and provide a judge for each. More information about the Koch Institute Public Galleries and Image Awards can be found on their website.
< Back to the newsOne of the UK's biggest medical museums gives visitors a fascinating insight into the history of health and medicine through numerous interactive displays.
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