Georgie Wileman
FIVE YEARS ON SELF, 2014 – 2022
2022 A Real Woman
Georgie Wileman
Medium:
Digital and printed billboards
Displayed:
UK-wide, July - August 2024
Artwork Description:
In Five Years On, Self, 2014-2022, a constellation of scars and dates drawn across Georgie Wileman’s torso documents surgery the artist has undergone, as a result of suffering from Endometriosis – a disease that affects 1 in 10 people born with a uterus, regardless of race or gender identity, yet is profoundly under-researched, under-funded and misinformed.
As well as drawing attention to the disease, Wileman questions the relationship between physiology and womanhood. Over eight years, the artist went through surgery seven times and lost four organs, including her uterus. Laying bare her personal experience she asks, “How many more organs would I lose before I’m no longer truly a woman?”
This Is Endometriosis is an intimate, expressive film about how endometriosis has robbed Georgie Wileman of time. Told in the first-person and blending present-day narrative with memories from the past, the film is a uniquely personal account with unprecedented access.
Artist's Comment:
To those who have never heard of endometriosis or its true impact - please educate yourself so you can stand alongside us. Endometriosis is drastically underfunded, under-researched and is dangerously misunderstood by the majority of doctors treating it. This is not good enough. We need to be seen; we need to be heard. This Is Endometriosis.
Bio:
(b. 1988, London, UK) is a British photographer, filmmaker and spoken word poet previously based in New York and now back home in London.
Her work focuses on underrepresented stories in the media. Wileman is Head of This Is Endometriosis, a global movement working towards validation, representation and education of endometriosis. She is the Creator and Director of the short film This Is Endometriosis. Created alongside Matt Houghton and Produced by Harriette Wright, the film premiered at Hot Docs Film Festival (2022) and has screened at cinemas including Bertha DocHouse at Curzon and 11 Everyman Cinemas across the UK.
Her photography has been exhibited in institutions including Saatchi Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, Royal Photographic Society and Annenberg Space for Photography and published in titles including, Forbes, The Washington Post, FT Weekend Magazine, The Independent, British Journal of Photography, Creative Review, CNN Arabic, Today Show (US), Der Spiegel, Le Figaro, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Elle, i-D, Dazed & Confused.
