This creative enquiry grew from moments on clinical placement when I realised that asking the right questions did not mean understanding the person in front of me. In conversations with people experiencing low mood and emotional distress, I could follow the structure of a consultation yet still sense a distance between us.

The mixed-media piece combines traditional graphite and ink drawing with digital techniques. I chose drawing because it allowed me to externalise an internal experience that is difficult to articulate with simple words on a page. Precise lines give way to fragmented shading, while the warped room and looming clock evoke the pressures of time and expectation.

The seated figure brings together anatomical detail and distorted shadow. The visible structures of the body suggest what medicine can examine and describe; the darkness expresses experiences that seem impossible to put into words. Opposite stands an incomplete doctor, upright but disconnected. The space between them holds the tension: physical closeness without the reassurance of feeling understood. 

I had begun to recognise how much I relied on a set structure for reassurance. It helped me know what to ask but could also distract me from listening closely to what someone was trying to share, including through hesitation or silence. Creating this work highlighted the importance of moving beyond information gathering towards genuine presence, where curiosity and compassion become integral to clinical reasoning.

For me, the title carries a double meaning: the physical body that medicine examines, and the lived experience of the person breathing.

I hope to learn to sit within and ease that uncertainty, and in doing so, begin to close the space between questions and understanding.