The British Optical Association Museum’s latest exhibition, Pathos Ocularis - The Beautiful and the Curious, was inspired by artist Iluá Hauck da Silva’s own experience of dry eye, diplopia and photophobia.
Brazilian-born da Silva, the museum’s third artist-in-residence, is an artist and glassmaker who specialises in anatomical and pathological symbolism. Drawing inspiration from her personal experiences, the museum’s collections and from medical, scientific and historical research conducted in the College of Optometrists’ library, da Silva’s exhibition creates a modern-day ‘cabinet of curiosities’ dedicated to eyes.
Her residency at the museum resulted when a collector friend commissioned an eye sculpture, she said. “I thought I'd go to the British Optical Association Museum, which I had been meaning to visit for quite some time, to look at eye models and get inspired. My friend and I booked an appointment with curator Neil Handley and during our visit… Neil asked to see my work and immediately asked me if I wanted to exhibit there, which I was delighted about!”
Conceptually, da Silva said her art focuses on the human condition with body parts and internal organs featuring heavily in her work. “Growing up in Brazil as the daughter of a doctor, I spent countless time in hospitals and practices… I have always had an interest in the depiction of medicine,” she said in the podcast, Through the eyes of an artist.
