Medicine + Technology + Art

Figure 1: Bell's Palsy by Virgil Wong from Virgil Wong Art

The technology of medicine has given us insight upon what's going on inside of us like never before.

The advances in medicine allow us to literally better understand ourselves and our body. However, medicine is constrained to data and diagnoses rather than perception and expression which the aspect of art can be used for. Symptoms one can feel can not merely be described by words alone. I vividly remember when I got stomach aches as a child, I was always asked to describe it through imagery. “Did it feel like a knife cutting?” “Does it feel like it’s about to explode?” “Does it feel like a snake slithering?” Descriptions like this helped my diagnosis from my parents and this is best exemplified by Virgil Wong’s art. His combination of his knowledge of diseases, data of medicine and symptoms, and expression in art allowed him to encapsulate and highlight how his patients were feeling. (Figure 1)

Figure 2: "Valentine" by Elizabeth Jameson

Wong’s art was a form of expression that demonstrated his patients’ inner pain despite their outward appearance not always expressing it. Yet, art is a way for patients to cope with their pain as well. Holly MacCormick’s “Patient Advocate Uses MRI Scans to Create Art and Spark Conversations About Life With Illness” and Professor Vesna’s lecture highlights the advances of the technology of MRI and how it launched several fields of medicine like neuroscience. However, MacCormick also brought up how MRIs became personal for patients and artists alike as a part of their identity and understanding the human mind and body. Artists like Elizabeth Jameson coped with her diagnosis with multiple sclerosis and found the black and white MRIs depressing. But, once she took the liberty to use the MRIs to better understand and embrace her brain and spark conversations upon her condition through art. (Figure 2)

Figure 3: “How a Blend of Science and Art Is Improving Neurological Health."

Art can be more than expression but progress upon improving neurological health. New divisions in neuroscience emphasize the importance and impact of art as studies have found art like music to improve symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients. Art and medicine have always had a connection to describe how people feel, but as they both grow, more significance is placed upon to work together to allow people to better understand and heal themselves.

“Art” Virgil Wong, 8 Sept. 2020, www.virgilwong.com/art.

Casini, Silvia. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as Mirror and Portrait: MRI Configurations Between Science and the Arts.” Configurations, vol. 19, no. 1, Jan. 2011, pp. 73–99. https://doi.org/10.1353/con.2011.0008.

MacCormick, Holly. “Patient Advocate Uses MRI Scans to Create Art and Spark Conversations About Life With Illness.” Scope, 28 Apr. 2023, scopeblog.stanford.edu/2018/10/16/patient-advocate-uses-mri-scans-to-create-art-and-spark-conversations-about-life-with-illness.

PBS NewsHour. “How a Blend of Science and Art Is Improving Neurological Health.” YouTube, 30 May 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b5weavRhjQ. 

Vesna, Victoria “Human Body & Medical Technologies” Lecture Part 3. DESMA 9. UCLA. 25 

Apr. 2024

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