Code Purple

2005

by Louisa Jenkinson

The Grail sees a woman lie vulnerable, splayed on a metal gurney. Under a single sheet her white gown is a mere gesture. Her mind darts from potential problem to horrid conclusion. Waiting. Every audible flicker and each bruch on bare skin is serrated. She turns up to the nurse who stares imapssively back. Patient stripped bare by image positioning.

Enter the doctor who theatrically opens the rubber doors. I'm here and in complete control. Step aside nurse; I'll take it form here. The viewer would look on to this scene, intriguiged by the unfolding scenario if it weren't for the second nurse in the foreground. Her red hair is neatly slicked back, her posture loose but confidant. Under a flood of light she holds up an object that concerns the four characters in teh image. She dismisses the viewer with her condescending eyes. Nothing to see here people. Just move on for I personally ahve everything under control. The viewer averts their eyes.

Code Purple is the result of Sunner's recently complleted residency at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne. In the dramatic setting of the unused hospital wings Sunner performed and documented herself as Nurse, Doctor, Patient and Nun. The consequent exhibition at red gallery comprised 12 large scale digitally manipulated self portraits.

The result is a deliberate stare into the Machiavellian forces at work between an image and it's viewer. Sunner deftly assumes complete control over what the viewer is given. She is the artist, the subject and the postproduction manipulator. As the subject she plays various distinct individuals in the one image. This allows the artist to negate any preconceptions the viewer may have of what a specific character should look like. A character is no longer defined by their physical appearance for the one person plays them all.

However there is not just the contest for power between the subject and the viewer, there is the changing power dynamic within the images. Doctors have inherent authority over Nurses, and Nurses have power over patients. Power is also revoked and assumed through the dress, posture and interaction between the characters. They are defined by who they are looking at and in what manner.

Yes Doctor? is a disturbing and taunting image. Sunner plays an homogoneous group os seven nurses. The inherent power of Doctor over Nurse is dissolved in a power shift as the seductive clutch of nurses lure the unseen Doctor or viewer. Sime tilt their hips forward whilst others pause in feline poses, tempting the viwer to sell their souls, beckoning them into the image. The power given by the artist the the nurses is unconditional. They hold it all and leave nothing to the viewer.

Code Purple is filled with disquieting and raw images of vulnerability and authority dynamics. However there is a distinct feeling of play that escapes teh photographs. Perhaps it is the theatrical setting of a disused old hospital ward. Perhaps it is the props used, the starched white lab coat and the officially hung stethoscope. Perhaps it is the snapped on rubber gloves or the frocks that give a sense of play. At the end of the image, after the power struggles and averted gazes of characters and viwer, the viewer who is still left standing appears to be invited to play too. However playing Doctors and Nurses may never be the same again.

Published in UN Magazine, Issue 6, Summer 2005, pages 24-5.