If They Spend The Time To Get To Know Me, 2019
Video, sound and 3D scans
Duration variable

If They Spend the Time to Get To Know Me is a creative partnership led by Vic McEwan in collaboration with allied healthcare practitioners, researchers, surgeons and patients from the Sydney Facial Nerve Clinic exploring the lived experience, stigmas and processes of care associated with facial nerve paralysis.

The face’s ability to represent the emotional state of the individual is disrupted when facial nerve paralysis results in changes to the expected emotional signifiers or re-codes them into an expression that is unaligned with the emotion felt by the patient or expected by the observer i.e. when a smile uncontrollably looks like a grimace.

If They Spend the Time to Get To Know Me is a visceral exploration that has been developed by observation, interaction and direct sharing of experiences using sound, video and 3-D scanning processes. This is the first stage outcome of an ongoing project that explores lived experience, stigma, difference, medical practice, empathy and the role of the artist within interdisciplinary models of care.

Vic McEwan

Vic McEwan is the Artistic Director of The Cad Factory, an innovative arts organisation based in regional NSW. Through this organization, Vic explores experimental and contemporary arts practice in partnership with diverse sectors.
Vic’s practice involves working with sound, video, installation and performance with a particular interest in site-specific work. He is interested in creating new dynamics by working with diverse partners and exploring difficult themes within lived experience. Vic aims to use his work to contribute to and enrich broader conversations about the role that the arts sector can play within our communities, and he is currently enrolled in a PhD at the University of Sydney.