Over the last few days I seem to reading a lot about pain and death. Okay I do admit I have an inherent fascination with these topics, but don’t we all? Some major arts and science organisations are holding exhibitions on this very topic. I recently went to the opening of “Death: a self portrait” at the Wellcome Collection. This is worth a visit, even to just see the giant diagram on their wall of what people die from and in how large a number. Who knew humanity killed off 690 million of us in the 20th Century alone?
Another exhibition I am excited to see is “Painless” at the science museum. It deals with all topics relating to pain, how we deal with it on a personal level, its over all effect on a society and also people who have a rare congenital insensitivity to pain. Sound kind of amazing but it’s really not. Imagine getting appendicitis but not knowing? The fear of death must be more apparent than usual. It is this often irrational fear that allows our fascination with the topic. Death is the only certainty and yet many spend their whole lives trying to avoid it. Here are few really interesting links worth a looks a look on the topic:
Sinead Gleeson on painting pain:
Coming up very soon at the Wellcome Collection is this exhibition that I’m quite excited about:
Oh and the dude that doesn’t feel pain:
And if you are feeling particularly nerdy check out New Scientist’s articles on death and how we humans cope with it.
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