Artist and practising NHS General Practitioner Joseph Dupré presents Knight Shift, a new ceramic exhibition that reimagines GPs (family doctors) as medieval knights; honouring the courage, compassion and heroism often overlooked in modern healthcare.
Drawing on more than a decade of medical experience alongside his artistic practice, Dupré uses sculpture to challenge the often critical narrative surrounding the NHS and to restore a sense of respect for a profession under unprecedented pressure. The exhibition comprises eight ceramic tombs, each dedicated to a GP known personally to Dupré. Resting atop each monument is a gilded knight, modelled on medieval effigies, while the sides narrate true, life-saving stories, from dramatic emergency interventions on the street to gentle acts of preventative care that avert future illness. The works draw inspiration from feudal heraldry, illuminated manuscripts and the Watts Memorial to Heroic Virtue in Postman’s Park, whose ceramic plaques commemorate acts of everyday bravery.
Dupré divides his week between his GP practice and his studio, seeing both vocations as intrinsically connected. “Both careers nourish me in different ways,” he says. “This exhibition is the closest they have ever come together.”
His firsthand medical experiences form the narrative core of the works, prompting reflection on a healthcare system under strain and the selflessness of those who sustain it. The project began when Dupré invited fellow physicians to share their stories, including one doctor who saved a woman’s life on Brixton High Street using only a biro to treat a punctured lung. These accounts are translated into sculptural detail: one tomb, honouring a GP who saved a woman choking on broccoli, is decorated with ceramic florets. Balancing reverence with moments of humour, Dupré’s work presents GPs as modern-day knights, quietly heroic, frequently uncelebrated, and unwaveringly devoted to the common good.
Drawing on more than a decade of medical experience alongside his artistic practice, Dupré uses sculpture to challenge the often critical narrative surrounding the NHS and to restore a sense of respect for a profession under unprecedented pressure. The exhibition comprises eight ceramic tombs, each dedicated to a GP known personally to Dupré. Resting atop each monument is a gilded knight, modelled on medieval effigies, while the sides narrate true, life-saving stories, from dramatic emergency interventions on the street to gentle acts of preventative care that avert future illness. The works draw inspiration from feudal heraldry, illuminated manuscripts and the Watts Memorial to Heroic Virtue in Postman’s Park, whose ceramic plaques commemorate acts of everyday bravery.
Dupré divides his week between his GP practice and his studio, seeing both vocations as intrinsically connected. “Both careers nourish me in different ways,” he says. “This exhibition is the closest they have ever come together.”
His firsthand medical experiences form the narrative core of the works, prompting reflection on a healthcare system under strain and the selflessness of those who sustain it. The project began when Dupré invited fellow physicians to share their stories, including one doctor who saved a woman’s life on Brixton High Street using only a biro to treat a punctured lung. These accounts are translated into sculptural detail: one tomb, honouring a GP who saved a woman choking on broccoli, is decorated with ceramic florets. Balancing reverence with moments of humour, Dupré’s work presents GPs as modern-day knights, quietly heroic, frequently uncelebrated, and unwaveringly devoted to the common good.
