Art & Medicine Archive – 2023
October 12, 2023
Dermatographia
by Ariana Page Russell
Ariana Page Russell is a visual artist who uses her dermatographia to create art on her skin. By embracing her skin condition, Russell creates powerful art that resonates with the human experience.
Event Recording
August 30, 2023
Personality Crash: Portraits of My Father Who Suffered from Advanced Stages of Parkinson’s Disease, Dementia and Sundowners Syndrome
by Safi Alia Shabaik
Artist Safi Alia Shabaik‘s work, “Personality Crash: Portraits of My Father Who Suffered from Advanced Stages of Parkinson’s Disease, Dementia and Sundowners Syndrome” delves deep into the effects that disease has on the human condition. The work showcases her family’s personal story, and highlights the importance of humanizing the patient experience.
Event Recording
May 10, 2023
The Hysteria Project
by Rachael Jablo
The Hysteria Project is a one-on-one storytelling project dealing with menstruation, reproductive, and pelvic disorders, illustrated by individual portraits of participants’ reproductive organs based on their stories. These life-size, intimate works start in a traditional darkroom where I use lace instead of negatives to make color prints that I cut up and collage onto a gold leaf background. The exhibited works are mounted in gilded laser-cut plexiglass frames.
The process of actively listening to people tell the narrative of their bodies, sometimes for the first time, is as vital as the actual artworks. This is listening as activism.
The online archive of stories and artwork is searchable by symptom, diagnosis, and keyword. People with gynecological disorders can thus read stories and see that they are not alone in their experiences. Moreover, doctors and future medical practitioners can learn from our lived experience and become better, more compassionate caregivers.
Event Recording
May 10, 2023
Paradoxical Paradise
by Dylan Mortimer
Dylan Mortimer’s art draws on his lifelong experience with Cystic Fibrosis. Diagnosed at 3 months old, the artist has received two double lung transplants as an adult and creates works about his health and spiritual beliefs.
Event Recording
Dr. Mark L. Barr, MD.