The complex mind
Lydia Horton
My creative piece is based on an encounter with an elderly lady I met on a shift with elderly patients at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. She had both schizophrenia and dementia, and it was therefore difficult to effectively communicate due her confused state, and inability to distinguish between the fact and fiction in her life.
My artwork is of a hand (supposedly this patient’s hand) holding some flowers. The flowers, which are typically associated with lifecycles, represent this lady’s thoughts and memories developed throughout her life. The flowers are made from a combination of pressed flowers and those that are sewn using thread, both being very delicate materials to present the fragility of the human mind. The pressed flowers symbolise the real and true memories, whereas the stitched flowers signify the fiction in her life due to her schizophrenia. For example, the patient had trouble recalling her own name and insisted she was called a name not evident in her medical records. The difficulty in separating the fact and fiction in her life is therefore represented by the ‘real’ and ‘fake’ flowers being intertwined and connected in the bouquet. The petals of the pressed flowers are shown to be falling to symbolise her fragmented memories and deteriorating mental state, due to her increasing confusion as the dementia progresses. I used pencils in order to draw her hand, so it appears black and white as a contrast to the coloured flowers. This allows the flowers to further stand out – which emphasises the importance of understanding a patient’s mental state to be able to effectively communicate with them.
It required patience and empathy to ensure this lady was able to comprehend what was being said to her and to understand what she was trying to tell us. Although the patient was in hospital for reasons related to her physical health, it was her mental state that revealed the key roles required by a healthcare professional. I chose this particular encounter because it struck me how the fragility of the human mind can massively impact how one is perceived by others. It highlighted how rather than belittling and disrespecting a patient due to their deteriorating mental state, the patient should in fact be treated with an increased sense of care, compassion and respect.
My artwork is of a hand (supposedly this patient’s hand) holding some flowers. The flowers, which are typically associated with lifecycles, represent this lady’s thoughts and memories developed throughout her life. The flowers are made from a combination of pressed flowers and those that are sewn using thread, both being very delicate materials to present the fragility of the human mind. The pressed flowers symbolise the real and true memories, whereas the stitched flowers signify the fiction in her life due to her schizophrenia. For example, the patient had trouble recalling her own name and insisted she was called a name not evident in her medical records. The difficulty in separating the fact and fiction in her life is therefore represented by the ‘real’ and ‘fake’ flowers being intertwined and connected in the bouquet. The petals of the pressed flowers are shown to be falling to symbolise her fragmented memories and deteriorating mental state, due to her increasing confusion as the dementia progresses. I used pencils in order to draw her hand, so it appears black and white as a contrast to the coloured flowers. This allows the flowers to further stand out – which emphasises the importance of understanding a patient’s mental state to be able to effectively communicate with them.
It required patience and empathy to ensure this lady was able to comprehend what was being said to her and to understand what she was trying to tell us. Although the patient was in hospital for reasons related to her physical health, it was her mental state that revealed the key roles required by a healthcare professional. I chose this particular encounter because it struck me how the fragility of the human mind can massively impact how one is perceived by others. It highlighted how rather than belittling and disrespecting a patient due to their deteriorating mental state, the patient should in fact be treated with an increased sense of care, compassion and respect.
Effective Consulting, Year One
Short-listed for a Creative Assignment Prize 2019 – 2020
Short-listed for a Creative Assignment Prize 2019 – 2020
I feel that this piece of artwork, whilst being very artistically excellent is also very clinically relevant. The use of a very simple white background shows clearly the isolation that is present during dementia and other mental illnesses. I found the use of the flowers as a metaphor for the thoughts and memories of the patient to be a very representative and was a very successful metaphor. By using flowers, along with insinuating life cycles, it also highlights the preciousness of what the patient is losing. It may also suggest that they once gave her beauty and joy, but now, due to her illnesses she will have difficulty accessing this joy. The use of varying textures within the drawing of the flowers mirrored very clearly the fragmenting nature of life living with schizophrenia and dementia. I felt like this image showed a me clear snapshot of the effect of dementia on an individual patient and their story, rather than the clinical definition of dementia. The varying use of thread, pressed flowers, falling petals and painted flowers highlights clearly the confusion, deterioration and degradation experienced by the patient. By having only one hand hold the flowers, and that being the only human presence in the artwork, the artist clearly highlights again the isolation and loneliness experienced by the patient. One way in which I feel the piece of art could be improved further would be maybe representing in the painting the unique situation of having both schizophrenia and dementia and how patient’s experience would be moulded by both of the diseases in conjunction with each other and how this differentiates her from other dementia patients in a similar situation. Overall, I really enjoyed looking at this piece, I feel like the artist has been very successful in communicating the patient experience and has produced both a very beautiful and though provoking piece.
This piece has been executed really well and I think the effects of all the different aspects of the creation really blend well together to generate a strong message portraying the effects schizophrenia and dementia had on the older patient’s memory. What stood out to me the most is the different use of textures to highlight the different types of memories the elderly lady had – reality or imaginary. The artist’s use of flowers could also be representative of the fragility and deterioration of the patient’s mental health which is further signified when the flowers are depicted to be quite wilted and falling from the bouquet of flowers the hand is holding.
This piece of artwork resonates with me, having spent the past year working in a psychiatric unit prior to starting university. I feel as though the contrast between pressed and stitched flowers representing the true memories and fictional memories from her struggles with schizophrenia is a very effective metaphor for the patient’s state of mind and portrays the complexity of the situation well. The use of flowers highlights the delicacy of the mind, and their association with lifecycles also makes it a good object to be the primary focus of the piece. The lack of colour aside from the pressed flowers creates a feeling of loneliness and isolation felt by the patient, while the colour of the pressed flowers could represent the vibrancy and beauty of her life before becoming ill.The piece is quite simplistic but overall very powerful in the message it sends about living with mental illness and also the compassion and empathy that is needed to understand patients who deal with these kinds of issues.
I really appreciate the symbolism of the flowers used in this piece, how such a simple thing has been used to represent so many things; life, memories, schizophrenia, dementia. The use of various media forms has further added to this symbolism and brings additional depth to the piece, which has clearly been carefully considered by the creator. The use of media variation within the flowers themselves to distinguish between memories, reality and confusion stood out to me as it very clearly represents how something can look so different to different people or even one individual person’s own thoughts and memories.
I think the flowers are a really effective metaphor for the patient’s struggles and the fact that the pressed flowers, representing their true memories, will eventually degrade beautifully. This illustration of the progression of dementia, which will eventually claim more of their memories. The contrast between the sewn and pressed flowers demonstrates the dissonance of the experience of someone with schizophrenia, overall creating a beautiful picture of the lived experience.