Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Week 4: Medicine, Technology and Art


This week’s topic was very eye-opening to me in that helped me understand just how much of a strong influence artwork has had on the medical world. Professor Vesna discussed how artwork was used for medical uses from the very beginning. It all began with diagrams of the human body - even though I have been familiarized with these diagrams from a young age, studying anatomy in school, I never thought of it as art; however, it takes a very talented artist to represent the human body correctly!



Additionally, I have attended Body World, and experienced the artwork there with my own eyes. I distinctly remember one of the exhibits where the only part of the body that was displayed were blood vessels. It was amazing to have a real visual of just how many blood vessels our body has! The ability to deconstruct our human tissues and display them gives us a completely new understanding of our bodies’ functions and just how complex they are.

I also never thought of plastic surgery as an art form. I had always thought of it as a medical procedure for people to want to alter their appearance, but I never thought that someone would want to reconstruct their image at multiple times in their life. Orlan takes this idea of plastic surgery as art to an extreme level, and it makes me wonder if her body suffers or doesn’t function as well as it normally would. I can imagine her work would stir up controversy about how we are each created uniquely and beautifully in our own way, and that we should not be altered based on societal conceptions of aesthetic “beauty.”

My favorite reading from this week regarded the Hippocratic Oath. This is something I was previously unfamiliar with, but I love the idea that those in the medical field should have this oath in order to uphold ethical standards while they treat their patients, for they are in a profession of service and have the opportunity to contribute to a healthier society, by aiding one person at a time. This is something that appeals to me, I would love to be in a profession of service, knowing that I am helping to improve the quality of another’s life.


Sources:

"Doctors Aren't Bound by the Hippocratic Oath." Today I Found Out. 2013. Web. Photograph. 20 Apr. 2016.

"Spider in the Bathtub." : Body Worlds. Web. Photograph. 20 Apr. 2016.

"Squeeze Page – Figure — My Drawing Tutorials - Art Made Simple!" My Drawing Tutorials Art Made Simple. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.

Tyson, Peter. "The Hippocratic Oath Today." PBS. PBS, 2001. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine and Art: Part 2.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 20 April, 2016.

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine and Art: Part 1.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 20 April, 2016.


1 comment:

  1. I thought your post was very concise and well-written. When I first saw this week's topic, before even learning about Orlan through lecture, I immediately thought about plastic surgery because of my association with art to beauty. Orlan is definitely an extreme case, and I also wonder how she can be so willing to use her own body as a canvas for the sake of her artwork.

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