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 Synopsis:

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.

Programme Details:

Sub-topics: The workshop will address the historical evolution of anatomical representation and its influence on contemporary medical seeing, alongside a comparison of the artistic, cultural and clinical gaze and how this shapes bodily understanding. It will examine the role of medical illustration as a pedagogical tool and consider observation and unintentional blindness in clinical practice. A drawing exercise will demonstrate how connections between seeing and interpreting need to be trained and exercised.

Learning Outcomes: (discussion and reflection on drawing exercise)

Critically analyse the visual conventions used in medical education and recognize how these might shape clinical perceptions of the body.
Evaluate the role of art in shaping medical knowledge and cultural conceptions of the human body.
Reflect on how broadened visual literacy and training may benefit diagnostic practice, patient interaction and a more holistic patient-centred encounter.

Maximum number of participants for the programme:
25 participants would be comfortable