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Medical humanities visual artshave come of age in Canadathrough a special double is-

sue of RACAR: Revue d’art canadi-enne/Canadian Art Review (2008:33[1-2]), which provides a well-roundedmélange of 8 scholarly papers and 7contemporary Canadian artists’ projects.

These 2 parts inform and build on oneanother in, “Medical Tabulae: VisualArts and Medical Representation,”which is ably guest edited by AllisterNeher and Mireille Perron.

The scholarly papers explore art andanatomy in the 19th century and more

cle on Sir Charles Bell (1774–1842),who made the science of anatomy andneurology accessible to artists strivingto depict natural-looking bodies.

Four other scholarly essays look tothe work of more contemporary artists.Of particular interest are Andres Ser-rano’s controversial series ofCibachrome prints, The Morgue(1992), which depict unnamed corpsesat an unspecified morgue. Author An-drea D. Fitzpatrick writes that Ser-rano’s work has been aligned with the“renaissance and Baroque anatomy the-atres where a subject’s criminal status

recent artistic representations of themedical aesthetic. Written for an aca-demic audience — the journal is, afterall, the official publication of the Uni-versities Art Association of Canada —the prose is sometimes quite laden bythat queer variation of the English lan-guage: art-speak. Nonetheless, if youpeel back the layers, the discourse isquite interesting.

The 3 historic papers delve into artis-tic representations of medicine such asthe seemingly objective beauty of waxmodels, the human dimension of theanatomical atlas and an interesting arti-

Art is science made clear

Review

contrast to the standardized requirementsof science.

Given the contrasts outlined it is notsurprising that physicians and otherhealth care workers have had a hardtime encompassing both roles in theirpractice. The solution is often to restrictcare to 1 of the 2 poles, curing or heal-ing, but not both.

To be an effective curer and facili-tate healing at the same time is a chal-lenging task: this patient may be dy-ing and I must remain emotionallypresent to that possibility and behaveand communicate with the patient andfamily accordingly; at the same time,I must concentrate on inserting thisfemoral catheter so that we can per-form the dialysis to treat his acute re-nal failure and possibly save his life,at least for now.

As may be apparent from this ex-ample, the enlargement of awarenessrequired is significant, but can actuallyresult in a decrease in the psychologi-cal tension that comes from identifyingexclusively with curing or healing.However, our tendency is to restrict

healer role. In this way, the gateway towhat we term whole person care maybe fully reopened in the context of so-phisticated 21st century biomedicine.

Tom A. Hutchinson MBDirectorMcGill Programs in Whole PersonCare

Nora Hutchinson BAFaculty of Medicine Class of 2012Antonia Arnaert PhDAssistant Professor School of NursingMcGill UniversityMontréal, Quebec

REFERENCES1. Kearney M. A place of healing: working with suf-

fering in living and dying. Oxford (UK): OxfordUniversity Press; 2000.

2. Mount B, Kearney M. Healing and palliative care:charting our way forward. Palliat Med 2003;17:657-8.

3. Cassell E. The healer’s art. Cambridge (MA): TheMIT Press; 1976.

4. Guggenbühl-Craig A. Power in the helping profes-sions. Dallas (TX): Spring Publications; 1971.

5. Driskell JE, Salas E, Johnston J. Does stress lead toa loss of team perspective? Group Dyn Theory ResPract 1999;3:291-302.

6. Allen D, Wainwright M, Mount BM, et al. Thewounding path to becoming healers: medical stu-dents’ apprenticeship experiences. Med Teach2008;30:260-4.

7. Epstein RM. Mindful practice. JAMA 1999;282:833-9.

8. Boudreau JD, Cassell EJ, Fuks A. A healing cur-riculum. Med Educ 2007;41:1193-201.

awareness when we are faced withstressful situations.5

Physicians and other health careworkers need to relearn1 an importantskill: how to retain a broad enoughawareness to encompass simultaneouslythe needs of both curing and healing instressful clinical situations. We mighthope that this is the purpose of teaching

hospitals and clinical clerkships wherestudents can see this process in action ina clinical setting. This does undoubtedlyoccur, but because medicine itself is un-clear about these 2 roles and has tendedto opt for curing at the expense of heal-ing3 we have found that students’ experi-ences in hospital can hinder, rather thanfoster their development as facilitators ofhealing.6 It is not only students, but fac-ulty as well who need to learn how to en-compass these 2 roles.

We believe that the key lies inbringing clarity and commitment tothese 2 complementary aspects of med-ical care. We at McGill are exploringvarious approaches, including a focuson mindful medical practice7 and a new4-year healing curriculum8 to foster the

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To be an effective curer and facilitate healingat the same time is a challenging task.

was the warrant for their spectacularpublic treatment,” raising the question:What warrants Serrano’s treatment ofthese people?

Another essayist critiques the prac-tice of self-representation in physicalillness as exemplified in selectedworks by photographers HannahWilke and Jo Spence, each of whomhad terminal cancer. Alternative viewsof self-representation are expressed inGenetic Self-Portrait (1997), GarySchneider’s black-and-white photos ofhis chromosomes, DNA and body-partfragments and Theodore Wan’s photo-graphic self-portraits in clinical andsurgical settings, such as “BromideScrub for General Surgery” (1977).

Florence Vinit, meanwhile, ex-plores the concept of skin as an enve-lope and a “condition of our subjec-tive existence.”

More accessible, and of more inter-est to this reader, is the second part ofthe journal, which features works ofcontemporary Canadian artists who useart to explore identity, illness, medicalhistory and treatment.

Jeffrey Burns, who was diagnosedwith young-onset Parkinson disease in2002, offers an exquisite and intriguingresponse to illness. Using a range of im-ages, such as complex plant roots andcreeping vines, he represents the body’sinterior in beautifully wrought gouacheand ink on paper artworks. This repre-sentation imparts Burns’ notion thatthere is a “permeable boundary betweenorganism and environment [which is] adire reminder of the body’s vulnerabil-ity and of our connection to the naturalenvironment.”

Nathalie Grimard likewise investi-gates issues of identity and illness. Inwhat she terms an “empirical search foridentity,” she asked strangers to takeher photograph and complete a ques-tionnaire about her — answers that arenecessarily biased, being uninformedby fact. Her work mocks the supposedobjectivity of science and creates newself-identities in each encounter.

Eveline Kolijn creates the firstpoem to be alive (word-proteins) in herentertaining and fetching DNA models(in mylar strips of printed words andchicken wire) of a protein from thebacteria Deinococcus radiodurans,

equipment to create aesthetically pleas-ing experimental sculptural assemblagesthat challenge us to “reconsider medicalauthority” (CMAJ 2007;177:1393-5).

While this issue of RACAR is cer-tainly a good primer on this burgeon-ing area of art, it is, by necessity, lim-ited in scope. Also limiting was thelack of colour images — a shortcom-ing no doubt lamented by the editorsand authors. But more egregious wasthe linguistic barrier that persists be-tween the artists and scholars and thelay reader. Thankfully, the worksspeak volumes.

While medicine has historically em-braced the arts through media such aswax models and anatomical atlases, itis heartening to see the arts likewiseengaged in medicine, following onJean Cocteau’s observation in Le coqet L’arlequin that “Art is Science madeclear.” This interdisciplinary approachcontinues to beautifully demonstratethat view.

Barbara Sibbald BJDeputy EditorNews and HumanitiesCMAJ

which is highly resistant to evolution-ary drift.

Ingrid Mary Percy’s work offers adramatic juxtaposition in its use of Spiro-graph (yes, the children’s art toy) to de-pict her view of electron micrograph im-ages of anthrax, influenza A, tapeworms,etc., in an effort to neutralize societalparanoia and fear of the unknown.

Nicole Jolicoeur, Mireille Personand Cindy Stelmackowich’s artworksdirectly reference specific momentsand objects that shaped the history ofmedicine.

Jolicoeur uses archival medical pho-tographs of women, punctuated (almostpunctured) by black holes, a rather ob-vious visual metaphor for medicine’sinability to truly know the patient.

Person recreates representations of18th-century female anatomical mod-els, drawings and notes using colouredthreads stitched directly onto a wall.The stitching and drilling conjures do-mestic and surgical confluences in afeminist strategy to reclaim these im-ages and the right to represent the fe-male body.

Stelmackowich uses medical illustra-tions, reference books and laboratory

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Ingrid Mary Percy, Untitled (Corona varieta) (2003). White ink on black acid-free paper.55.9 x 76.2 cm. Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Gift of the artist, Victoria, BC (CAG2006-7-2) “I made up the name,” writes Percy. “I was thinking about SARS and Coronaviruses. Corona is Latin for crown or ring or wreath. This drawing depicts an imaginedworld of micro organisms.”

Ben

Kin

der