MedHums 101: Tom Hey explores the role of illness narrative in the medical humanities, from its importance in cementing the field to crucial questions about what lies beyond. Once upon a time in the
Reflecting on their recent Confabulations event, researchers Laura Cowley, Christine Slobogin and Katie Snow question the relationship between humour and art within the critical medical humanities. What does art bring to, and how does
Launched in October 2021, Confabulations: Art Practice, Art History, Critical Medical Humanities aims to make explicit the contributions that artists and art historians can make to debates and developments in critical medical humanities. Convenors Fiona Johnstone, Allison Morehead and Imogen Wiltshire reflect on the programme so far.
A roundtable discussion on the ethical, legal and aesthetic challenges of exhibiting anatomical materials, with curators Katie Birkwood (Royal College of Physicians), Nathan Flis (Yale Center for British Art) and Annette Wickham (Royal Academy of Arts), moderated by Keren Hammerschlag.
Rebecca Blake discusses ‘Visualising the Medical Humanities: A Symposium’ at the Centre for Art History and Theory, School of Art and Design at the Australian National University, 22 July 2021.
Maria Patsou reviews Performance, Medicine and the Human (Bloomsbury Methuen, 2020) by Alex Mermikides.
The Australasian Health and Medical Humanities Network was launched in June 2021. Elizabeth Stephens, Claire Hooker, Keren Hammerschlag, Sandra Carr, and Karin Sellberg outline the network’s aims and give an overview of current medical humanities practice in Australia.
Seeking to “take seriously” everyday acts of care, artist Emily Beaney reflects on how her collaborative practice-based research examines caring practices within the mother-daughter relationship. “The most anti-capitalist protest is to care for another
Artist Lucy Sabin reflects on making art about breath in 2020. Breathworks began as a participatory arts project on social media, expanding to become an exhibit and events programme supported by Art Fund and
Being a patient today increasingly means being an image. Liz Orton’s new artist’s book, Every Body is an Archive, takes the medical image as a site of critical enquiry to explore questions of ownership, language and power within the clinical encounter. Polyphony editor Fiona Johnstone met with Liz Orton to talk about the book, the centrality of image-making to medical practice, and how right now is a radical moment for the clinical gaze.
