So I’m walking around the Wellcome Collection’s new exhibition Exquisite Bodies when I see this here sign.

Well what would you do?

Behind the veil lurked a cabinet full of hairy, swollen groins, each disfigured with its own flavour (and I wish I hadn’t just used that word) of pustule and canker. A curious choice of content for the Wellcome Collection’s summer blockbuster. And one I couldn’t bring myself to photograph.

The putrid genitalia are perhaps the most grotesque exhibit in this 19th Century freak show of anatomical wax models. But everywhere you turn, you’re confronted with images of disfigured and dissected human bodies. Some were used as teaching aids for doctors and midwives, while others were to titilate the Victorian public and underscore the horrors of VDs.

Because you’re worth it

As (nearly) always at the Wellcome, the exhibition is utterly absorbing and works on any level. If you just want to turn up and gawp at the macabre, you’ll find plenty of bleak eye candy. If you want to take time and read all the panels, you’ll uncover a tale from the side-history of medicine that you’re unlikely to be aware of. I was particularly intrigued by the story of Joseph Towne, who served as anatomical model maker to Guy’s Hospital for over 50 years, slaving away in a basement, on his own, surrounded by his ghoulish creations. Surely a Tim Burton film in there somewhere.

Exquisite Bodies, 30 July-18 October at the Wellcome Collection. Entry is free. See the website for associated events and introductory videos, and read my Londonist review here.