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A story of a Doctor Artist.

Doctor–Artists

“The doctor is an artist”

Susan Byth

MJA 2004; 181 (11/12): 626-627

If you walked into my surgery in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Highgate Hill, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in an art gallery — paintings, my own works, hang on all the walls. Am I a doctor? Am I an artist? I am both.

When I left high school, I thought seriously about studying art, but logic prevailed and I found myself with a medical degree. After 6 years at university in Brisbane and three years of hospital work in Townsville, I travelled to Europe. In Belgium, while walking one night in a moonlit field, I was momentarily aware of the presence behind me of generations of European artists with whom I felt an intense personal affinity, including Michelangelo, El Greco, Vermeer, Van Gogh and Picasso. Perhaps it was the result of having immersed myself in art-filled galleries and churches; perhaps it was because I was so far from home. Whatever it was, I experienced a powerful sense of transcendence that took my breath away. And, for whatever reason, at that moment I felt very strongly that I would paint and would become known as an artist.

It took some time to realise this grand vision of mine. I set about establishing my own practice and having four children. For 10 years, I drew and produced only occasional works. After I turned 40, everything changed, and I found myself fired by a passion that I felt almost powerless to control.

It was as if pictures had been accumulating inside me for years, and the backlog had reached a point where they had to be expressed. Each evening after work, when my family was in bed, I would begin painting — pouring my thoughts, visions and various “unconscious conclusions” onto canvas. I’d get by with little sleep — often three to four hours a night. It was one of the most stimulating and exhilarating times of my life. Painting energised me and charged my soul.My concurrent practice of medicine gave me many ideas to use in my art. For example, a patient waxed lyrical about her nephew’s wedding just when I was painting some women in white dresses. I decided to make them the bridesmaids and my exhibition “Tying the knot” was born. Each painting in the exhibition represented something people might bring to a marriage, from company and consolation, friendship and family, jealousy and acrimony, even alimony.

Because my nights were so creative, I was glad to be sensible Dr Byth by day. Earning money by practising medicine gave me the freedom to paint whatever I liked, as I did not have to necessarily sell paintings (although this happened).

My love and practice of art has helped me become aware of the broader social picture in medicine. “Normalising” illness, helping patients to become focused on good health outcomes and minimising the impact of setbacks have been some of my main patient management tactics in general practice. I know that painting provides me with relaxation at the end of a hard day’s work. It’s therapeutic for this doctor...............

Her work is featured in MJA 2004; 181 (11/12): 626-627

Link : http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/181_11_061204/byt10700_fm.html

Discussion Forum

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Started by Dr Sujata Udeshi. Last reply by Dr Sujata Udeshi Apr 6, 2013.

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The story behind the evolution of a medical procedure... 1 Reply

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Comment by DR.MOHAN SHARMA on February 12, 2014 at 7:52am

Comment by DR.MOHAN SHARMA on January 11, 2014 at 9:45am

Comment by DR.MOHAN SHARMA on January 2, 2014 at 6:24pm: Pain doesn’t show up on a body scan and can’t be measured in a test. As a result, many chronic pain sufferers turn to art, opting to paint, draw or sculpt images in an effort to depict their pain.

“It’s often much more difficult to put pain into words, which is one of the big problems with pain,” said Allan I. Basbaum, editor-in-chief of Pain, the medical journal of The International Association for the Study of Pain. “You can’t articulate it, and you can’t see it. There is no question people often try to illustrate their pain.”
INSERT DESCRIPTION“The Broken Column,” by Frida Kahlo (Banco de México Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust)

One of the most famous pain artists is Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, whose work, now on exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is imbued with the lifelong suffering she experienced after being impaled during a trolley accident as a teenager. Her injuries left her spine and pelvis shattered, resulting in multiple operations and miscarriages, and she often depicted her suffering on canvas in stark, disturbing and even bloody images.

Sacramento resident Mark Collen, 47, is a former insurance salesman who suffers from chronic back pain. After his regular doctor retired due to illness, Mr. Collen was struggling to find a way to communicate his pain to a new doctor. Although he has no artistic training, he decided to create a piece of artwork to express his pain to the physician.

“It was only when I started doing art about pain, and physicians saw the art, that they understood what I was going through,” Mr. Collen said. “Words are limiting, but art elicits an emotional response.”

Mr. Collen wrote to pain doctors around the world to solicit examples of art from pain patients. Working with San Francisco college student James Gregory, 21, who suffers from chronic pain as the result of a car accident, the two created the Pain Exhibit, an online gallery of art from pain sufferers. The images are evocative and troubling.

“Some of them are painful even to look at,” Dr. Basbaum said. In November, he included an image from the site on the cover of Pain; it can be seen here.

Finding ways to communicate pain is essential to patients who are suffering, many of whom don’t receive adequate treatment from doctors. In January, Virtual Mentor, the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, reported that certain groups are less likely to receive adequate pain care. Hispanics are half as likely as whites to receive pain medications in emergency rooms for the same injuries; older women of color have the highest likelihood of being undertreated for cancer pain; and being uneducated is a risk factor for poor pain care in AIDS patients, the journal reported.

Some of the images from the Pain Exhibit, like “Broken People” by Robert S. Beal of Tulsa, Okla., depict the physical side of pain. Others, such as “Against the Barrier to Life,” convey the emotional challenges of chronic pain. “I feel like I am constantly fighting against a tidal wave of pain in order to achieve some quality of life,” wrote the work’s creator, Judith Ann Seabrook of Happy Valley in South Australia. “I am in danger of losing the fight and giving up.”

Mr. Collen said the main goal of the exhibit is to raise awareness about the problem of chronic pain. However, he said he hopes one day to find a sponsor to take the exhibit on tour.

“People don’t believe what they can’t see,” Mr. Collen said. “But they see a piece of art an individual created about their pain and everything changes.

Comment by DR.MOHAN SHARMA on November 16, 2013 at 5:54pm: This assemblage of ancient female figurines recollects the world's primordial spiritual art in all its diversity, its deep continuities and global connections.

Shown, from left top: Italy, Sudan, Egypt, Russia, Ecuador, Siberia, France, Morocco, Alaska, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Mexico, China, Zimbabwe, Manchuria, Iraq, Iran, Peru, Turkey, Brazil, Utah, Hungary, Chad, India, Greenland, Mexico, Honduras, Argentina, Britain, Israel, Chile, Ecuador, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Illinois, Kurdistan, Sulawesi, Louisiana, Brazil, Kenya, Sudan.