The VCU Friends of the Library present the exhibit "Bedpan Elegance: Celebrating the Beauty of an Everyday Object," running March 31 through June 30, 2011, at Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences, 509 N. 12th Street, on VCU's MCV Campus. An opening reception and gallery talk will take place on March 31 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the Special Collections Reading Room at Tompkins-McCaw Library.The centerpiece of the exhibit is a series of thirty photographs of bedpans and other elimination vessels by William W. DuBois, professor and chair of Visual Media at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Since 1978, Professor DuBois has amassed a private collection of more than sixty bedpans in a variety of durable materials such as enamelware and ceramic, documenting a period of medical history before the revolution of disposable plastics. He has combined his collection with his passion for photography, resulting in these one-of-a-kind images of bedpan elegance. In addition to the photographs, the exhibit includes bedpans and similar vessels that are part of the medical artifacts collection of the Tompkins-McCaw Library. "Bedpan Elegance" is the inaugural exhibit in Tompkins-McCaw Library's recently renovated gallery.
The opening reception, gallery talk and exhibit are free and open to the public. For special accommodations, please contact Thelma Mack at (804) 828-0017.