On the Art of Teeth
by Janetka Platun & Dr David Mills
Barts Pathology Museum
3.30pm – 7.30pm, 3rd – 6th December 2025
Read the On the Art of Teeth project booklet [PDF 7,872KB]
Tickets are FREE but must be pre-booked in advance via EventBrite
This site specific installation at Barts Pathology Museum is the culmination of a collaboration between artist Janetka Platun and Dr David Mills, a researcher from the School of Dentistry at Queen Mary University of London. The work includes new film and sculpture that responds to the Museum’s own historic collection of tooth specimens dating back to the 19th century. These 24 specimens and their accompanying index cards, that form the ‘Diseases of Teeth’ collection, provide an insight into the range of problems faced by patients, and the (often brutal) history of dentistry in England.
The installation provides a rare opportunity to visit Barts Pathology Museum in London, a specialist medical museum at Queen Mary University of London, not normally open to the public.
The film and sculptural artworks in the installation are based on thousands of microtomography scans of the historic tooth specimens produced by Dr David Mills. The installation explores the inner world of teeth as sites of memory, loss and survival.
The project was originally commissioned by the Centre for Creative Collaboration at Queen Mary University of London. On the Art of Teeth is funded by Arts Council England and Queen Mary University of London.
About the artist
Janetka Platun’s artistic practice incorporates sculpture, film and installation. Her art is shaped by phenomenological ideas, posing questions about our existential relationship to our surroundings. These reveal deeper meanings of home, belonging and loss. Her work attends to the inter-relational complexities of people, place, time, memory and desire.
Janetka studied sculpture at Camberwell School of Art and was an Artist Fellow at Queen Mary University of London. She has exhibited extensively and received awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, British Council, Leverhulme Trust and Arts Council England. Recent projects include ‘There were people’ a public art commission commemorating the Polish Resettlement Camp in Hiltingbury.
Further information: www.janetkaplatun.com
About Dr David Mills:
David is a senior lecturer in imaging and calcified tissues at Queen Mary, University of London. His research interests include X-ray imaging for comparative anatomy and heritage science. David works across disciplines and institutions, collaborating with academics, artists and museum & archive professionals to visualise the hidden worlds of their collections.
Tickets must be pre-booked, to book yours visit:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/on-the-art-of-teeth-tickets-1954631538549
