Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Category: Gallery

  • Body Scan 2023

    Dome Witt Calgary, Alberta, Canada   After being injured in a collision, the artist took to exploring the experience through a series of paintings. A CT scan taken before the repairing of the artist’s hip serves as the base of one of these paintings, entitled Body Scan 2023. Silver foil highlights fractures in the artist’s…

  • The Mind of Covid-19

    Terrance Jones Chicago, Illinois, United States   The Mind of Covid-19 reflects and recalls the one year and two months stuck in my home during the pandemic. Lots of reflection, creation, curiosity, worry, stress, fear, loss, and inspiration. An explosion of color depicts the ugliness of the fight transforming into the beauty of victory. Working…

  • Morning rounds

    Alan Blum Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States   During my internship, residency, and fellowship in the late 1970s, I kept a visual journal, filling several notebooks with patients’ stories, clinical vignettes, snippets of overheard conversations, and sketches. The two collages in this gallery, drawn in my usual medium of black ballpoint pen on small index cards,…

  • Out of the mouths of moms

    Alan Blum Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States   For family physicians, even a routine well-baby check-up can be a heart-warming experience. Not only do we hear about the infant’s progress and catch up on things at home, but we also savor the unguarded moments such as those I tried to capture in these sketches. Click on…

  • Reading Lacan 1Reading Lacan 2Identification with the Aggressor

    Sean Murphy Chicago, Illinois, United States   Created after reading the work of the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, Reading Lacan 1 (top) and Reading Lacan 2 (bottom left) capture the abstract nature of his baroque speaking and writing styles. At the same time, they maintain through a bright color palette one goal of psychoanalysis: cure—and with…

  • Ladies in hats

    Alan Blum Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States   I was encouraging an overweight patient in patent leather shoes with two-inch heels to start wearing sneakers instead, when she calmly reached into her totebag and pulled out a pair of Nikes. The pumps, she explained, were her “comin’-to-the-doctor shoes.” Her finest footwear was a sign of respect.…

  • Hematoxylin and Eosin Abstraction

    Lily Mahler Birmingham, Alabama, United States   Hematoxylin and Eosin Abstraction is a watercolor piece inspired by the histopathology of a liver affected by hereditary hemochromatosis. Bands of deep blue iron deposits cut through a verdant garden of hepatocytes in this composition. Hematoxylin and Eosin Abstraction (2020) Lily Mahler, MS4 at University of Alabama School of…

  • The Siege

    Glen P. Aylward  Springfield, Illinois, United States   The Siege reflects the battle society is currently waging against a formidable adversary—COVID-19. The colors indicate fear and frustration, but also hope. Front-line medical personnel wearing PPE are depicted in the background. The painting is acrylic on canvas. The Siege. Glen P. Aylward. Acrylic on canvas.  …

  • Parkinson’s

    Glen P. Aylward  Springfield, Illinois, United States   In Parkinson’s, the colors express the emotional intensity and frustration experienced by those with Parkinson’s Disease, while the inflammation and anatomic components of the disease are also depicted by the shapes. I have experienced these emotions and symptoms since my diagnosis of PD 8 years ago. The…

  • Sanctuary

    Bruce Granquist Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States   In 2012 I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. I thought this meant that my career as a book illustrator and calligrapher was over. But after making some experiments I realized that the tremor in my right hand allowed me to make much more expressive calligraphic lines than I…