The Compassionate Gaze: Art, Observation And Human Connection In Medicine

Date: 22 October, Thursday | Time: 11:00 - 12:30 | Venue: Academia Room L1-S4

Programme Description:

How do medical professionals really see the people in their care? Medical education has long privileged a particular mode of seeing the body, typically mediated by standardised anatomical drawings, idealized and sometimes genderless illustrations, and increasingly, digital imagery, but what might be lost along the way? While aimed at training precision, this approach can narrow medical professionals visual and perceptual repertoire, flattening the body into a schema, rather than promoting holistic observation.

This workshop invites participants to interrogate their own visual habits and to rediscover the body as a site of nuance, individuality and cultural meaning. Using anatomical illustrations (from Vesalius to contemporary medical artists), sculpture, portraiture and photography participants will explore how visual conventions shape perception, knowledge and even empathy. A central component of the workshop involves practical and reflective drawing exercises to reveal the gap between perceived and actual observation, demonstrating how we often look without seeing. This has direct implications for diagnostic accuracy, patient assessment and the cultivation of clinical attentiveness. *No prior artistic experience is required; materials will be provided.