Cover art for Academic Medicine

The presigious journal Academic Medicine is looking for works of art to put on their covers. What a great opportunity for those working in the field. This is the deal:

Cover Art
These original works of art should be inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, a health care experience from any perspective-caregiver, student, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Acceptance is contingent on the artist's signing an AAMC Artist Consent Form.

Artists will have the option of submitting a related Teaching and Learning Moment (TLM) as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the "academic medicine experience". The related narrative should adhere to TLM submission guidelines Based on the individual strength of the artwork and the supporting TLM, we may occasionally choose to publish one without the other.

High-resolution TIFF files with a minimum of 300 dpi resolution are required at the time of submission. Images are at least 4 ¼" x 4 ¼" (with the ideal size being 4 ¼" x 4 ½" ) and are vertical or square, not horizontal. Images must be grayscale or CMYK. Submissions do not require an abstract.

More information on the journal's website: www.academicmedicine.org.

Spiritual journey through old age to death

Life Before Death was a very moving exhibition at the Wellcome Collection. It was a collection of black and white images capturing people just before and just after death. Journalist Beate Lakotta and photographer Walter Schels took images of 24 terminally ill patients and interviewed them whilst taking the first image trying to extract their thoughts about their inevitable death. The pictures were crisp photographs on a large scale with a black backdrop. Every blemish, scar and wrinkle was shown to us up close. This gave the viewer an unusual level of intimacy, usually only reserved for those close to the dying.

The first images seemed to encapsulate the subject’s views on death and reflected the worries and fears that they were facing. In contrast, the photographs taken after death seemed to exhibit the ways in which they had learnt to come to terms with their tragedy. For example, one lady when interviewed embodied an overwhelming resentment towards God and started to question his existence. Her after death portrait was the only one of the 24 to be taken inside a coffin, with a white, velvet background giving an almost holy feel to the image. It gave the impression she had accepted her fate and given herself over to a spiritual world.

Some of the more harrowing photographs were of terminally ill children. We found these slightly disturbing and considered the implications of showing these images of people who may have not yet understood the magnitude of their disease.

Untold: An Exploration of Identity in Old Age was a reflection of the Arts & Minds Project at the SW1 Gallery undertaken to illustrate the value of art as a supportive therapy for the elderly. On entering you were confronted by three etchings conveying the mental experience of a patient with dementia. Artistically we thought they were fantastic, but it was hard to relate them to the disease. Moving on, Deborah Padfield’s collection of photgraphs of the elderly depicted them sewn to other people or objects. We thought this demonstrated that they were tied to what they loved and found it warming that they had something to hold onto.

The next part of the exhibition embodied the contribution of the elderly subjects. You were able to sit down in an installation of a typical room in a care home and listen to music made by Fraser Trainer and Peter Whyman from the instruction of the subjects. These inspirational pieces showed an incredible freedom for the residents to express themselves in ways they would not normally be able to. A video accompanied this showing how the residents used hand signals to instruct the musicians what to play, therefore creating “improvised” music.

Finally, we ended on a collection of iconic images of London traced and painted from photographs all of which was done by residents. Some of the paintings had a child-like ethos, which could reflect the way that society views the elderly in the same way they view children; in constant need of care and attention; patronising and demeaning.

By coincidence, on the day we visited the exhibition the residents of one of the centers involved in the project had come in to view the fruits of their labour. A sense of pride and completion graced their faces representing a renewed sense of worth that this project had given to them.

Both of these exhibitions were very touching and allowed us to reflect more about the plights of the elderly and terminally ill.

Soumen & Rupert

Medicine and Narration in the Eighteenth Century

There is an interesting programme of talks in Oxford on Friday 18 April 2008 at Maison Française d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Road, Oxford, OX2 6SE, starting at 9.45 am. Enquiries to maison@herald.ox.ac.uk.

Doctor-author reading

There will be a joint reading by renowned doctor-authors on Wednesday 21 May 2008, 7.30 pm, at Swedenborg Hall, The Swedenborg Society, 20-21 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH. For further information or to reserve places, please e-mail gmb@hammersmithpress.co.uk. The £5 entrance fee includes a complementary glass of wine.

The English Surgeon

The English Surgeon
DFG Screening at the ICA
Thursday, 20th March, 4pm

DFG is proud to present The English Surgeon, Geoffrey Smith's remarkable and moving documentary, shown to great acclaim at the Times bfi London Film Festival and Sheffield Doc/Fest.When brain surgeon Henry Marsh first visited a Ukraine hospital in 1992, he found the medical conditions absolutely appalling. Since then he has worked with his Ukrainian protege Igor Petrovich to help create a viable clinic using discarded NHS equipment, and to bring hope to people where there was none. In Geoffrey Smith's moving, beautifully shot documentary, we follow Henry on his latest trip, to yet another corridor filled with patients for whom he is their last chance. Marion is among them, determined to do something about the enormous brain tumour threatening his life, even if it means undergoing an operation he must stay awake throughout. As Henry tackles increasingly risky procedures, he is haunted by the memory of an operation which went catastrophically wrong. Featuring exclusive access to the KGB hospital in Kiev and original music composed and performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.Dir. Geoffrey Smith, UK 2007, 94 minsSurgeon Henry Marsh will join the director Geoffrey Smith for a very special Q&A after the screening.

For more details see: www.dfgdocs.com/Events/1302.aspx
Read the interview with Director Geoffrey Smith by Kerry McLeod here

Wellcome trust

The Wellcome trust was set up on the death of Sir Henry Wellcome, an eccentric, self made pharmaceutical entrepreneur. Throughout his life his passion for medicine and archeology manifested in a diverse collection of objects from the mundane to obscure. The latter being epitomized by the angry metallic teeth of the “anti-masturbation” devices sitting proudly in unison with the array of steel clad chastity belts.

However, I found a deeper love downstairs from the collection in the “sleeping and dreaming” exhibition. What is sleep? What are dreams? Why do we need sleep? Why do we dream? Do we need to dream? Considering one third of our lives are spent in this state science has really struggled to answer the above questions and hence many modern day ideas are born from the realms of the arts. This dichotomy is reflected in the exhibition as the romance of the arts conjures up interest while science serves to give context.

The exhibition was light by way of facts and those that were represented my Bsc primed eyes met with distain in the absence of evidence. So I left with a feeling of unsatisfied fascination and a frustrated inquisitiveness.

LSE SU Arts Week 2008!

Invitation to Arts Week 2008 Launch!
The LSE Arts Forum is happy to invite you to a lunch reception to spark off Arts Week 2008.
In celebration of the Arts at LSE, join us and enjoy free food and drink, a creative crowd and LSE artistic talent!
Time: Monday 3 March, 12.00
Location: Parish Hall
Please find the Arts Week What's on Guide attached, listing all arts-related activities/talks/performances across campus during the week.
For more information, please contact: su.artsforum@lse.ac.uk
Hope to see you there!
LSE Arts Forum
(Arts Week is supported by the LSE Arts Advisory Group and the LSE Students'Union)

The most important things are the exhibition really - its on every day between 10 and 4. The launch is going to be the best part as it will showcase a scene from the play that my sister is producing, Dr Faustus, but will possibly be very overcrowded due to the incidence of free food. There are also other events which might interest, such as plush monster making on Tuesday afternoon, a knitting workshop and numerous book clubs, life drawing events, workshops, etc. Hope to see you there!

The nearest tube to the LSE is Holborn Station on the central line. If you need any more info on how to get there you can email rashidt@lse.ac.uk