Roundup: Anatomical Art (Therapy)
One great way to facilitate a good mind-body connection is to make artwork about your body — its ailments or its triumphs. Today I’m thinking more about ailments.
I made a lot of art about my own body last year before, during, and after surgery. I even wrote about it here and here. As an art therapist who works in a hospital, I’m always interested in representations of physical, mental, and emotional pain.
Frida Kahlo famously lived with pain caused by childhood polio and then a traumatic bus accident. Her art is generally labeled as Surreal, though I see it as a therapeutic reflection of reality. Frankly, with varying degrees of technical skill, this is the kind of art that shows up a lot in a hospital setting. The problems of pain and the foibles of the human body are, as we all know, very very real.
My painting carries with it the message of pain. (Frida Kahlo)
Obviously, the human anatomy is a common theme in artwork of all kinds. Click the image above to find out more about the artists and their work.
Other very excellent examples include:
- Becky Stern’s anatomically-correct plush knee, based on her surgery.
- Becky also made an embroidered slice of her knee MRI.
- Dee Mallon made a journal quilt from a mammogram.
- Dee also points us to the artwork of Ann Merrell, who died of breast cancer in 1999. I think the connection to her illness is quite undeniable.
- The needlework blog Stabbed! has a whole category about representational body stuff. It’s really awesome. (Mostly brain images.)
- Dan Beckemeyer’s breathtaking needlefelt/drawn anatomy project.
Of course, actual physical representation is not necessary. One of my favorite flickr images is by karmapolis and is called “Mi enfermedad” (My Illness). It depicts a dragon, not a body or a brain. Other people may just use color, shapes, and lines to abstractly depict what they go through.
What about you? Have you ever made something about your body, an illness, or a physical ailment or triumph? Please share!
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No never have I used my body or disease in my art. Although I maybe an interesting subject, have to think it over.
Comment by Elizabeth — 26 April 2009 @ 12:17 pm
interesting question…i have this thing about eyeballs that i don’t entirely understand.
tho’ for me it started with the nordic myth of odin sacrificing an eye into a well for the sake of knowledge, so it’s very connected to knowledge for me, and not an illness, per se. i’ll have to think about this from a fresh perspective! thanks as always, for making me see things in new ways. 
Comment by julochka — 26 April 2009 @ 1:24 pm
Thank you for including me in this post… definitely of interest. I’d love to hear more about what you see (to the extent confidentiality allows) in the hospital setting…
In the meantime, I have got to get my friend and fellow-quilter Susie to let me post a few pictures of her most recent work — she is a former IV specialist and is now depicting cells with felt and embroidery floss that are graphic, amazing to look at, and scientifically correct.
Dee
Comment by Dee — 26 April 2009 @ 1:25 pm
Definitely! I’ve been working on a series this year “the Artist’s Body”—could do 10’s of dozens of pieces on this subject. LOVE anatomy work.
Comment by arlee — 26 April 2009 @ 1:54 pm
A lot! I’m mostly an autobiographical artist…(someone called me that recently, I never really thought about it, but it’s true none the less) Everything I do tells something about me… Drawings, lots of drawings when it comes to physical ailments…
I’ll send you an example…
Comment by V — 26 April 2009 @ 4:32 pm
Very thought provoking. Unlike V, I’m not an autobiographical artist and now wonder why. Perhaps, paradoxically, it’s too personal and I need to work those things out in other ways. Or perhaps I just haven’t experienced the power of art to help me.
Sorry to see you’re suffering from ailments! That’s not a fun list to have, I know.
Comment by Emma — 27 April 2009 @ 7:10 pm