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Documentary Featuring UK Organ Transplant Recipients Wins Emmy

And the Emmy goes to…“Body Maps: Transplantation Inside and Out.” 

The film is a documentary about eight UK HealthCare organ recipients who expressed their transplant stories through artwork.

“My life changed dramatically as I got sicker and sicker.”  “I was sick for the first 15 years of my life.”  “I was 19 years old, I didn’t want to be in there.”

These are the voices of UK HealthCare patients who were able to express their experiences of illness and organ transplants through body mapping art therapy.  Belgian artist Xavier Verhoest helped participants communicate their stories through pictures, words and symbols on individual life-sized canvases.  “The idea really is to take back people into their own body and create a representation of their lives through a life-sized painting.  We help people to recognize that they have a very, very strong and beautiful treasure inside them.”

Filmaker Thomas Southerland recorded the workshop from which came the documentary “Body Maps: Transplantation Inside and Out.”  He called the project a career highlight and credited the eight organ recipients who shared their stories for the film’s success.  It has gone on to win several awards including the Ohio Valley Regional Emmy for best documentary.