The Art of Palliative Medicine - 2016 Semester 2
I decided to create a painting as a creative response to my palliative patient visit. This choice of medium is due to my past experience with painting; it has always been valued and practiced in my family, and, along with writing, it is the art form that feels most comfortable to me. I chose not to do an essay because while I have written many essays during my student years, there have been few (more accurately, no) opportunities to express myself through painting within the academic context.
The main idea that I wanted to explore in my artwork was the fact that different people hold different conceptualisations about death and dying, and that these conceptualisations can be affected during their interactions with others. It was a big surprise when our patient turned out to be someone who appeared completely at peace with his situation. He understood his condition, and the fact that it would end up killing him, but expressed that he had had a very full and interesting life.