Hugh Turvey
- Art Department
Hugh Turvey is an x-ray artist with an international reputation. Bridging the gap between art and science, graphic design and pure photography, his work has been utilized in a myriad applications, including, commercially, for marketing and advertising, in TV and film, in education and by architects and interior designers in public art settings, in particular in health-care environments.
He studied at Swindon Art College (1989-1990) and the Royal Berkshire College of Art and Design (1990-1992), before enrolling at Blackpool and the Fylde College (latterly the University of Central Lancashire) in Lancashire (1992-1994) to study photography. After graduating, Hugh worked as an apprentice to one of the UK's iconic rock photographers, Gered Mankowitz. During this period he began experimenting with X-ray/shadow photography after being asked to create an alternative 'revealing' image for an album cover. In seeking advice from the head of radiology at the Royal Free Hospital in London, Hugh realized the parallels between X-ray and photography and began working on a new type of Rayogram - wherein the object's shadow was not only exterior, but also interior, thus depicting its inner structure and density. He defines these images as being Xograms and differentiates them from Photograms by the frequency of the 'light' used to expose the 'paper'.
Hugh's work attracted the interest of the Science Photo Library, who encouraged him to produce an extensive series of colored x-rays of everyday objects, which were eventually published during 1999 in the Observer's LIFE magazine. The same year, Credit Suisse commissioned Hugh to produce six 'motion x-ray' European TV commercials, which subsequently went on to win awards at the 1999 ITVA Festival in Koln, Germany.
Following the successful solo "X-perimentalist" exhibition at the Gallery@Oxo,London in 2009, Turvey was approached to become artist in residence at Yeovil District Hospital working on a Wellcome Trust sponsored public engagement project entitled 'inr-i', which has been touring UK hospitals ever since. He has subsequently been appointed as the permanent artist in residence for the British Institute of Radiology.
In 2011, Turvey produced the X-ray imagery for the film Et Soudain, Tout Le Monde Me Manque (The Day I Saw Your Heart), directed by Jennifer Devoldere. In November 2011 Hugh released the X is for X-Ray iPad app (through Touch Press), launched at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), in Chicago.
For the past three years he has been working with Waitrose UK on celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal's ranges and has had images commissioned by L'Oreal, Paris.
Hugh's Xogram work has been widely featured in newspaper articles and magazines around the world. Hugh's Xogram and is on permanent display in Sir Isaac's Loft at the Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia. Most recently, his Flora X-ray photographs were selected as a key motif to run throughout the newly refurbished Maslow Hotel in Johannesburg.
Hugh returned to the OXO with a new solo exhibition, X-POSÉ, in February 2014, which was repeated at Artopia Gallery in St. Katharine Docks, London and is now represented by London Contemporary Art ( Store Street Gallery, London ). He also created a site-specific video installation and lecture for the 2014 Edinburgh Science Festival, UK
He studied at Swindon Art College (1989-1990) and the Royal Berkshire College of Art and Design (1990-1992), before enrolling at Blackpool and the Fylde College (latterly the University of Central Lancashire) in Lancashire (1992-1994) to study photography. After graduating, Hugh worked as an apprentice to one of the UK's iconic rock photographers, Gered Mankowitz. During this period he began experimenting with X-ray/shadow photography after being asked to create an alternative 'revealing' image for an album cover. In seeking advice from the head of radiology at the Royal Free Hospital in London, Hugh realized the parallels between X-ray and photography and began working on a new type of Rayogram - wherein the object's shadow was not only exterior, but also interior, thus depicting its inner structure and density. He defines these images as being Xograms and differentiates them from Photograms by the frequency of the 'light' used to expose the 'paper'.
Hugh's work attracted the interest of the Science Photo Library, who encouraged him to produce an extensive series of colored x-rays of everyday objects, which were eventually published during 1999 in the Observer's LIFE magazine. The same year, Credit Suisse commissioned Hugh to produce six 'motion x-ray' European TV commercials, which subsequently went on to win awards at the 1999 ITVA Festival in Koln, Germany.
Following the successful solo "X-perimentalist" exhibition at the Gallery@Oxo,London in 2009, Turvey was approached to become artist in residence at Yeovil District Hospital working on a Wellcome Trust sponsored public engagement project entitled 'inr-i', which has been touring UK hospitals ever since. He has subsequently been appointed as the permanent artist in residence for the British Institute of Radiology.
In 2011, Turvey produced the X-ray imagery for the film Et Soudain, Tout Le Monde Me Manque (The Day I Saw Your Heart), directed by Jennifer Devoldere. In November 2011 Hugh released the X is for X-Ray iPad app (through Touch Press), launched at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), in Chicago.
For the past three years he has been working with Waitrose UK on celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal's ranges and has had images commissioned by L'Oreal, Paris.
Hugh's Xogram work has been widely featured in newspaper articles and magazines around the world. Hugh's Xogram and is on permanent display in Sir Isaac's Loft at the Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia. Most recently, his Flora X-ray photographs were selected as a key motif to run throughout the newly refurbished Maslow Hotel in Johannesburg.
Hugh returned to the OXO with a new solo exhibition, X-POSÉ, in February 2014, which was repeated at Artopia Gallery in St. Katharine Docks, London and is now represented by London Contemporary Art ( Store Street Gallery, London ). He also created a site-specific video installation and lecture for the 2014 Edinburgh Science Festival, UK