Intimate Visions: Representations of the Imperfect Body in the Age of Digital Medicine

The authors explore the work of artists looking at the relationship between illness, identity, the brain and imagery produced by medical imaging technology. Digital images of the brain generated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology represent a powerful unveiling, making visible that which was invisible until the creation of the CT scanner and, shortly after, the more refined MRI technology. At the intersection of fine art and clinical medical images, the authors discover a resistance and a reshaping of the experience of illness. In their focus on the brain, illness and identity, the authors feature specific works of artists impacted by diseases of the brain and spinal cord, specifically Laura Ferguson, Katherine Sherwood, Marilène Oliver, Kelly Haydon, Darian Goldin Stahl and Elizabeth Jameson.