Théotime Ritzenthaler

Suffering from an injury forced me to reconsider my relationship to my body, but also left me
facing the choice of seeking treatment and to confront a distant and alien world. Medicine
seemed ruthless, relentless and uncaring, proposing the possibility of repair in exchange for
suffering. Is it worth it? is the question I am dealing with while contemplating the bargain.
In this project I am exploring my relationship with the concept-entity of medicine. Its position
in society invokes sacredness, and dogma results from this position.
I approach these themes by using craft as a communication tool with my own struggles.
Craft allowed me to find a common ground with medicine and by extension to gain an
understanding or a connection to this field.
This common ground creates a possibility for a two-way communication and allows me to
regain control in the exchange.
Craft is the tool that, in my Mind, brings Medicine down from its pedestal and makes it
approachable.
Using my craft to explore these issues filters the notions through my hands, like the image of
the medical structure is filtered through my mind.
In this way, craft allows for a healthy Mind-Body interaction, acting as an external bridge
between the two entities.
This circular interaction of layers of filtering, from the idea, filtered through the mind, then
through the hands and materialized back to reality offers me a possibility to face the
distortion existing in my Mind. This confrontation creates a situation of introspection and
re-evaluation leading to a new understanding of the subject matter.