Frida Kahlo: Visual Articulations of Suffering and Loss

Abstract

Abstract Humanities courses in medical college settings encourage students to consider perspectives often unexamined in professional texts and discussions. Fictional lives found in literature, film, and/or art invite care providers to think about their own-and their patients'-unspoken feelings, fears, and doubts within the context of personal lives and sensibilities. Medical students, in particular, engaged in the “everydayness” of professional training-deadlines, memorizations, isolation from family and friends, competition-have become adept at escaping or ignoring the angst that is part of suffering and loss. This article illustrates the value of interdisciplinary approaches to patient care by exploring visual articulations of suffering by Frida Kahlo, an artist who speaks eloquently about effects of traumatic injury using nonscientific tools.