Clerkship Year is our first step into the reality of healthcare. We start as wanna-be shadowers and quickly progress to frontline providers. Patients begin to see us as doctors, the doctors begin to see us as their peers, and eventually we begin to see ourselves that way too. We...
This is a digitally-altered Chinese ink painting of a cerebral angiogram. Huang is interested in Chinese approaches to painting, which emphasize the portrayal of motion and vitality through brush strokes instead of the realistic representation of a subject. While learning about angiograms in anatomy class, and she was fascinated...
Title of piece: Medical School Sketches
I can only speak for the first two months, but my favorite part of medical school has been the clinical encounters. During most of the clinical encounters and plenaries, I like to sketch a quick portrait of the speakers. “Medical School Sketches” is a...
It’s always been clear to me, and I’m sure most other people with vaginas will relate, that our bodies are not something to discuss. The amount of shame most girls have around their periods is so immense. Most girls will go to almost any length to avoid people seeing...
The beloved plum flower has long symbolized resilience and perseverance, as it is among the first trees to open the rich purple hues of its petals in the barren winter. There is life in vasculature and branches. The flow of blood and of sap continues season after season, year...
This piece, titled PSOM Anatomy Lesson, is a recreation of Rembrandt’s classic 1632 painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. In my version, the cadaver, doctor, and audience are each depicted as the character from the game Operation. Though our anatomy classes are far more ethical than what...
This piece takes a familiar view to Penn medical students—the lobby of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine—and doubles it. It was inspired by a disorienting experience in the bright, windowed walls of this building, trying to navigate home with dilated eyes after an ophthalmology visit just two floors...
Haiku for the Painting
I do not know if
I will fit in this white space.
But I do not care.
Information on the Art
Title: White on Red on Blue on Black
Medium: High gloss enamel and acrylic on canvas
Size: 92 x 92 cm
Painted in November 2021
Samuel Curry is an MS1 at the Perelman...
Artist’s Note: One of the surgeries that first heightened my interest in ophthalmology was the cornea transplant. Observing through the microscope, I was astonished by the surgeon’s deft movements creating tiny sutures along the rim of the transplant. He was performing what is called a “penetrating keratoplasty (PK)”, where donor...
Artist’s Note:By no stretch of the imagination, medical school is a staccato series of beginnings. New school, new classmates, new classes, new imposter syndrome, and then suddenly a rapid-fire sprint through internal medicine, family medicine, ob/gyn, pediatrics, emergency medicine, neurology, psychiatry, surgery, and much more to come. Reflecting on...
Artist’s Note:For the theme of Beginnings, I created a dypthic that represents my introduction to medical school. Taken together, the panels symbolize the range of emotions and experiences that the past 3 months have brought; with incandescent, saturated brightness on the left and a toned down, subdued mood on...
Artist’s note:When we began medical school, many of us did not know what to expect from a career in medicine. Despite our best efforts to shadow, think deeply about a career of service, and write extensively about it, we did not know what we signed up for. Like any...
This beautiful little girl had all the confidence in the world as she jumped in front of the camera. Armed with a bright smile, she wins over the hearts of all who pass Color Alley.
I studied studio art in college and have always found drawing to be a source of comfort. During my first year of medical school, I often turned to sketching as a means to incorporate wellness into my daily activities and de-stress. In particular, I turned to drawing during our...
I made this in high school, when I was discovering that linoleum printing is one of my favorite forms of art. I like this piece because the girl doesn't look like she's struggling too much -- she's shouldering a gigantic animal and doesn't seem too distressed. I had several...