The Window to the Patient
Sarah Jane Bingham
This led me on to think about the number of different lives I’ll be connecting with as a doctor and the number of eyes I’ll be looking into when communicating with patients. It is amazing to think how each patient will have a different story to tell. I thought I could show this in a painting. I decided to have an eye painted in black and white representing the eye of each and every person (and in particular patient) I will see. However, as a contrast to the black and white, I would paint the iris in a variety of common eye colours to show how everybody’s eyes are unique and will have a unique person and unique story to go with them.
I have painted the image using oil paints and applied the paint with brushes, a palette knife and with my fingers! The great thing about oils is that they take a long time to dry and so you can leave the painting for a few days, come back to it and work on it a bit more. I loved painting and felt I was really able to start connecting with the piece of work that I was doing. It was great seeing it develop over a couple of weeks and when it came to painting the iris, the whole picture suddenly came to life.
I hope other people can draw different interpretations from my painting as I think it is a simple image that could stand for quite a lot of ideas.
This is a really striking piece. I feel it demonstrates that is often not what the patient has said which is crucial, but perhaps what they don’t say. As a doctor you may have to pick up on what a patient does or how a patient acts to piece together the story that is in their eyes.
This is a really great piece of artwork and I am think that it emphasises how much you can get not only from the verbal information that a patient provides but also their non-verbal cues or example where they are looking.
This is a great, thought provoking piece. For me it highlights not just the importance of non-verbal expressions that doctors must recognise but also how every patient encountered is unique with their own story seen through their eyes.
I love this piece, I’ve always found the necessity of eye contact so important and how much they portray far deeper than merely other facial expressions. It is so important to look further than what appears on the surface of a story.
I really like this piece of art. For me it almost feels like the whole spectrum of eye colours represents the vast variety of people and patients that doctors come into contact with. Especially in a general practice context, you never know who will walk through the door next and so you are likely to see every shade of colour that an iris could be.
I was drawn to this piece as the contrast between the bright colours of the eye and the background made me feel like I was really looking through a window. The colours remind me of how each patient would be in unique situations and has different stories to tell. It sends an important message that doctors not only diagnose and treat patients but also appreciate and listen to what patients tell us.