Abstract
Incorporating a discussion of physical and emotional trauma in medical education can help prepare students for their encounters with trauma survivors in clinical practice. A pedagogical approach begins with an inquiry into the purpose of historical or current representations of torture. Justifications include rationalizing state-sponsored torture, providing an outlet for critique and protest, and organizing representations of the enemy. Discussions of torture must further address the emotional and symbolic effects of clinical work with torture survivors on the caregiver. Introductory workshops using visual representations can trigger pain, fear and anger in the viewer. Images of torture, war, and genocide may also invoke ethical concerns relating to the impact of visual images, where viewing can elicit an ambiguous response, casting the viewer into the role of voyeur. At the same time, learners should recognize that indifference or inattention to the provocations mediated through images has its own liabilities, signaling defensiveness. Discussions about the respective roles of perpetrators, victims and observers offer opportunities for the viewer to engage in self-reflection. Artistic representations also offer opportunities for advocacy on the survivor’s behalf, sometimes facilitated by dissemination of visual representations, but also by involving the survivors themselves in activities that exploit the healing power of art.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ainsworth, Maryan Wynn. 1998. Gerard David: Purity of Vision in an Age of Transition. Metropolitan Museum of Art: New York.
Alexander, Caroline. n.d. “Revealing the Power of War.” Accessed April 13, 2019. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/healing-soldiers/.
Asgary, Ramin, P. Saenger, L.H. Jophlin, and D.C. Burnett. 2013. “Domestic Global Health: A Curriculum Teaching Medical Students to Evaluate Refugee Asylum Seekers and Torture Survivors.” Teaching and Learning in Medicine 25 (4): 348-357.
Auden, W.H. 1989. “Musée des Beaux Arts.” In Modern Poems: A Norton Introduction, 2nd edition, edited by R. Ellman and R. O’Clair, 415. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Bhatia, Ravi and Paul Wallace. 2007. “Experiences of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in General Practice: A Qualitative Study.” BMC Family Practice 8 (1): 48.
Cain, Taryn. 2015. “Lustmord and the Three Perspectives on Murder.” Accessed April 13, 2019. https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/WqfvayUAAKsrVreh.
Chapman, Jake and Dinos Chapman. 1993. “The Life and Works of Jake and Dinos Chapman: Disasters of War.” Accessed April 13, 2019. http://jakeanddinoschapman.com/works/disasters-of-war-3/.
Goodsmith, Lauren. 2007. “Beyond Where it Started: A Look at the ‘Healing Images’ Experience.” Torture 17 (3): 222-232.
Guzik, Helena. 2012. “Visual Forms, Visceral Themes: Understanding Bodies, Pain, and Torture in Renaissance Art.” The Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal 2 (1): 21-26.
Haslett, Adam. 2003. You Are Not a Stranger Here. New York: Anchor Books.
Jaar, Alfredo. 2013. “Art in the Twenty-First Century” Episode entitled Protest. Accessed April 13, 2019. http://art21.tumblr.com/post/42363468503/i-think-its important-to-incorporate-beauty-in.
Kalmanowitz, Debra and Bobby Lloyd, eds. 2015. Art Therapy and Political Violence: with Art, without Illusion. London and New York; Routledge.
Levinson S, ed. 2004. Torture: A Collection. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
MacNaughton, Jane. 2000. “The Humanities in Medical Education; Context, Outcomes and Structures.” Med Humanities 26:23-30. https://doi.org/10.1136/mh.26.1.23.
Mannix Daniel. 2003. The History of Torture. The History Press: Sutton Publishing.
Peters, Edward. 1999. Torture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Pinker, Stephen. 2011. The Better Angels of our Nature. New York, New York: Viking.
Pollack, Andrew. 1997. “Mercury, Mostly Gone from Bay in Japan, still Poisons Town’s Life.” New York Times, August 23. Accessed April 13, 2019. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/23/world/mercury-mostly-gone-from-bay-in-japan-still-poisons-town-s-life.html .
Rare Historical Photos. 1967. “The Remains of the Astronaut Vladimir Komarov, a Man who Fell from Space, 1967.” Accessed April 13, 2019. https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/astronaut-vladimir-komarov-man-fell-space-1967/.
Rare Historical Photos. 1968. “Saigon Execution: Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief, 1968.” Accessed April 13, 2019. http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/saigon-execution-murder-vietcong-saigon-1968/.
Roberts, Jennifer L. 2013. “The Power of Patience.” Harvard Magazine. Accessed April 13, 2019. http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/11/the-power-of-patience.
Seidel, Klaus. 2017. “Dana Schutz’s ‘Open Casket’: A Controversy around a Painting as a Symptoms of an Art World Malady.” Spike. Accessed April 13, 2019. https://www.spikeartmagazine.com/en/articles/dana-schutzs-open-casket-controversy-around-painting-symptom-art-world-malady.
Sontag, Susan. 2003. Regarding the Pain of Others. New York; Picador.
Tate Gallery. 1993. “Jake Chapman, Dinos Chapman: Disasters of War.” Accessed April 13, 2019. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/chapman-disasters-of-war- t07454.
Tulloch, John and R. Warwick Blood. 2012. Icons of War and Terror: Media Images in an Age of International Risk. London: Routledge.
Wellbery, Caroline and Rebecca McAteer. 2015. “The Art of Observation: A Pedagogical Framework.” Academic Medicine 90 (12):1624-1630.
Wellbery, Caroline. 2017a. “Looking.” Hektoen International. Accessed April 13, 2019. https://hekint.org/2017/01/27/looking/?highlight=wellbery.
-----. 2017b. “A painful but tender embrace: Robert Pope’s ‘Aesculapius’.” Hektoen International. Accessed April 13, 2019. https://hekint.org/2017/01/26/a-painful-but-tender-embrace-robert-popes-aesculapius/?highlight=wellbery.
Wisnewski, J. Jeremy. 2010. Understanding Torture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
World Medical Association. 2016. “WMA Declaration of Tokyo - Guidelines for Physicians Concerning Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Relation to Detention and Imprisonment.” Accessed April 13, 2019. https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-tokyo-guidelines-for-physicians-concerning-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading-treatment-or-punishment-in-relation-to-detention-and-imprisonment/ .
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wellbery, C. Visual Representations of Physical Trauma: A Medical Pedagogy. J Med Humanit 42, 225–233 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-020-09623-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-020-09623-9