Year: 1999
Type: article
Abstract: Inside Out is the title of a visual art project which aims to provide unusual information about common medical treatments in a way that will engage the public’s imagination. Using art to convey information allows medical decision-making to be explored as an emotional as well as an intellectual process. It also acknowledges that the aesthetics of a treatment may be highly significant. The work is the result of a collaboration between an artist, Susie Freeman, and a general practitioner (GP), Liz Lee. During her work as a GP Liz Lee made the following observations. A significant number of women had such strong negative feelings about the intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD or coil) that during a contraceptive consultation they refused even to discuss it as a method. Their reaction appeared to be emotional rather than rational. Another observation was that when she removed an IUCD patients very often said, ‘oh, is that what it looks like?’ They had no visual image of their coil particularly as it changed over time within their body. In contrast everyone who takes the oral contraceptive pill has a visual image of each individual pill, but it is more difficult to conceptualize the total number taken over a period of months or years. For each IUCD removed it is simple to calculate the number of oral contraceptive pills that would have given equivalent protection from unwanted pregnancy. Displaying this number of pills together with the IUCD thus reveals two previously hidden pieces of information. This theme was developed to incorporate another common mechanical treatment employed in medicine today. The hip is the most frequently replaced joint in the body. Often after many years these joints work loose and have to be changed. Once again this affords us the opportunity to speculate on the quantity of pharmaceutical treatments that would otherwise have been taken by the patient to control their symptoms. The equation is less elegantly simple than for the IUCD/pill. Nevertheless it is a valid comparison and again allows hidden information to be revealed. In this piece several IUCDs are contrasted with garments made out of fabric incorporating the exact number of contraceptive pills that would be needed to provide equivalent protection. The IUCDs have been used and are accompanied by a short biography of their wearer including occupation, date of fitting and reason for and date of removal. The central piece is a Lippes Loop coil that was in someone’s womb for 26 years ( Fig. 1). Twinned with this is an extraordinary ball gown made out of 6300 contraceptive pills ( Fig. 2). The dramatic dress serves to engage people’s attention and draw them in. The ball gown is subtitled ‘Come Dancing’ which is a pun alluding to its glittering appearance and to its association with courtship and sexuality. Lippes Loop IUCD, removed after 26 years. Photo: Chloë Stewart. Ball gown made out of 6300 contraceptive pills. Photo: Chloë Stewart. This piece provides information about the estimated number and variety of drugs that might be taken for symptomatic control of osteoarthritis of the hip were a replacement operation not undertaken. The estimate was made by running a computer search of 13 500 medical records in one general practice in order to identify those patients with osteoarthritis of the hip and severe chest disease. These are patients denied a hip replacement because they might die under general anaesthetic. After scrutinising the notes the final selection of drugs was drawn from an amalgam of three patients records. An elegantly engineered prosthetic hip joint that was removed from a patient after 10 years is contrasted with the estimated seven thousand pills that might otherwise have been taken ( Fig. 3). These are incorporated into a 10-meter long ‘road’ of fabric. They include painkillers and drugs to counteract their common side-effects such as constipation and indigestion. Chronic pain frequently leads to insomnia and depression so sleeping tablets and antidepressants are also incorporated, as are some complementary therapies. A 10-meter floor installation containing 10 years’ worth of medication for a patient with osteoarthritis of the hip, an alternative treatment to the artificial hip joint. Photo: Chloë Stewart. This work is not intended to replace currently existing patient information but to complement it. By using visual art rather than language based material and presenting it in a non-clinical setting the aim is to capture the imagination of a wide audience. This is something that the presentation of most currently available medical information fails to do. The nature of the work allows unusual information to be presented about the quantity and variety of drugs taken over a period of time and about the transformation over time of objects we have carried within our bodies. Exploring more imaginative ways of presenting information outside the clinical setting may allow the development of new methods of informing emotional as well as intellectual decision-making. This work was supported by a Welcome Trust Sci-Art grant in 1998.
Source: Health Expectations
Authors: Elizabeth Lee, Susie Freeman
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2055312101