Slow ethics for nursing practice

Abstract

As I was preparing this Editorial, I visited an exhibition at the National Museum in Stockholm. The exhibition was on the theme of Slow Art, described as ‘a collective term for both relatively traditional styles and techniques and new expressions and innovative approaches to crafts techniques’ (p. 12). The term has developed from the ‘slow movement’ (readers may have come across Slow Food and Slow Travel). This is a reaction against the trend towards speed and time-saving initiatives whereby quickness may be valued over doing things well and quantity valued over quality. Robach writes of ‘intricate artisanal production’ and of ‘seeing a value in slowness’ and ‘allowing time to be a significant factor in the artistic process’ (p. 13). The art objects exhibited were diverse and very beautiful: Helena Sandstrom’s ‘Necklace’, for example, was made of the shells from hens’ eggs, which were broken carefully and then attached to a thin wire of gold; Annika Lildal’s sculpture of slippers made from Japanese satin, wire, pins and varnish is named ‘Dog Rose’ as the slippers are ‘fragile and exquisite but can also cause pain with their sharp thorns’ and Renata Francescon’s ‘method’ of creating stacked porcelain rose petals sculpted entirely without tools is described as ‘significant. Francescon’s fingers leave their imprint on the clay, a physical trace of her presence’ (p. 97). What all of the pieces have in common, in addition to the fact that they took a long time to make, is their fragility or vulnerability. One slip and a piece worked on can be ruined. The development of such objects of art may also mean that the artist will have to forego a more lucrative career. Robach states that: