Common Medical Objects for Ephemeral Bodies

Abstract

Common Medical Objects for Ephemeral Bodies mimics the medical spaces and objects used to diagnose the human body. As an artist, I subvert the function of these spaces and objects in my installation in order to play with the power they otherwise hold to disembody the patient from their sense of self. Instead, the spaces and objects I am presenting aid in the embodiment of the patient that is too easily lost while grappling with the modern medical-industrial complex, which often dismisses and misdiagnoses illness. In this installation, the body is amplified in Tricardium, projected in Vital Touch, and reimagined in Intuitive X-Rays and Seeing/Looking to guide the patient towards embodiment. In Common Medical Objects for Ephemeral Bodies, I do not play doctor, nor do the apparatuses, but through these apparatuses, I provide opportunities for the participant to feel comforted and to cope within their body.