art and medicine

Brighton and Sussex Medical School is taking part in the Brighton Fringe this year. We will display innovative student artwork which uses installation, performance, intervention, sculpture, painting, photography, video and digital media to communicate ideas about medicine.

From Saturday 2 May to Sunday 3 May 2009, between 11-4 daily, visit us in the Medical Teaching Building, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9PX.

Art has long been acknowledged to give doctors a fresh perspective as well as benefiting their patients, and the walls of BSMS are covered with x-rayed vegetables, flower-like teeth and views from under the floorboards. Students are given the opportunity to take photography lessons, write poems about their experiences and contribute to art projects, as well as learning interdisciplinary subjects like medical ethics and history. Students have started their own societies in art, film, journalism and literature.

Professor Helen Smith says: ‘We are very committed to a curriculum enabling our students to study the arts and humanities in addition to core biomedical sciences and clinical medicine. We believe that these broader studies will contribute to their development as good doctors, with a deeper understanding of the meaning of illness, who are able to communicate better with patients and family and able to reflect on the impact of their work with sick people.’