PRECIOUS METTLE

A powerful new photography show sees 100 women pose with gold paint on their scars in a nod to the Japanese art of Kintsugi. Organiser and ex-A&E doctor Liz Murray explains why she hopes it will save lives as well as celebrate imperfect beauty

- Vicki Power

STRIPPED nearly naked and with gold paint applied to parts of her body, Dr Liz Murray looks like she may be re-enacting a scene from the Bond movie Goldfinger. But the former A&E doctor and hero of the pandemic has a very serious message to convey — the gold paint traces the lines of scars she's gained from a dozen or so operations during a gruelling decade of ill-health.

Liz and 100 other women are posing with their scars on show for a new health exhibition called Scars of Gold, running now until Saturday. Their photos are a vivid illustration of how they've come through devastating health traumas.

"It was actually quite nerve-wracking to pose for the photo," admits Liz, 37. "It is less of a body image issue, but more the idea of taking a physical step of turning a scar which represents so much trauma and representing it as something beautiful. It was actually quite a profound experience."

The Scars of Gold campaign is Liz's brainchild and based on the Japanese art of Kintsugi, in which broken items are repaired and their cracks painted gold as a way to find beauty in imperfection. Kintsugi featured in a storyline in the final episode of BBC's Call the Midwife in March.

But there's a sad story behind Liz's triumphant photo, which is about her own battles with ill-health and the heartbreaking decision she had to make in 2023 to give up her career as an A&E doctor.

"I had lots of operations for endometrio-sis that caused bowel and bladder damage and then got diagnosed with lupus," she explains. "I'd been a doctor for 10 years, and I had to keep taking time off because I had six miscarriages and IVF and then a premature birth by C-section where I nearly died.