On the Art of Teeth
by Janetka Platun & Dr David Mills
photo credit: Eva Herzog
Barts Pathology Museum
3.30pm – 7.30pm, 3rd – 6th December 2025
Read the On the Art of Teeth project booklet [PDF 7,872KB]
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 created 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 were 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
Human Remains Statement
Barts Pathology Museum contains human remains, including foetuses and forensic specimens. Visitors should use their discretion when attending medical museums such as this, as viewing human remains can understandably evoke powerful emotions.
The collection at Barts Pathology Museum was amassed long before our modern understanding of ‘consent’, and the oldest specimen in the collection is from 1750. These historic specimens significantly contribute to our understanding of the history of medicine, and advance the knowledge of QMUL students.
Photography of the remains is generally not allowed, in order to create a dignified environment for the collection. Barts Pathology Museum holds a Public Display Licence from the Human Tissue Authority and is subject to routine inspections regarding the display and care of the collection. Governmental guidelines on the conservation and care of human remains, are also followed by museum staff.
QMUL recognises the debt owed to the donors of the specimens, and their families, who have helped to advance medical knowledge in the past and are still doing so to this day. It is a remarkable legacy that museum staff, and its visitors, do not take lightly.