Brother and Sister
Sarah Wake
I had never seen the photo before and immediately felt attached to it. My grandad suddenly brightened and smiled while he chatted about my brother and I as children. When we were younger we would often snuggle up together in the same bed and my mum described often being unable to identify us separately as our heads would merge together as a big bundle of brown hair. I saw this in the photo and I loved the way it could be turned around and placed at every angle and still look ‘right’.
The day after we were at my grandad’s house my brother left home to start a career in London. This was an added blow for my mum who felt her closest family members were leaving her. I knew that with the geographical distance between us me and my brother would never be as close physically as in he photo but I wanted to show my mum that we were still all close on an emotional level and would always be there for her, and I decided to paint a version of the picture to comfort her. Both myself, my grandad and my brother have the original photograph on our desks and my mum now has the painting at our family home.
Creative Arts for Health
Absolutely lovely! With a beautifully free line.
I think this is incredibly touching and a real tribute to how important closeness within the family can be not only in the acute time of crisis but during the healing period after that. That everyone has a version of this picture hopefully serves as a reminder of that every day!
I love this piece…it really shows the strong bond that is so lovely to see between siblings. It also shows the importance of family in people’s lives and the effect of others on our physical state as well as emotional, which mustn’t be forgotten in any aspect of medical practice.
This is a beautiful piece which does not directly seem to portray a link to the medical feel but having two younger siblings myself, I found the painting very moving and made a link to the medical field of my own. To me this painting shows the importance and influence of family in everyday life and health, and for doctors to have a holistic approach to a patient’s diagnosis and possible treatment, their relation with family should also be greatly discussed. I myself could reflect this painting on many GP placements I have been to where patients brought in family members with them. A very moving piece.