As part of the University of Pittsburgh’s Year of Creativity that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, art students from Pitt-Bradford collaborated with the university’s School of Medicine to illustrate the stories of patients’ being treated for problems ranging from depression to cancer.
The stories came from Pitt Medical School’s My PaTH Story Booth, which records stories of those living with illnesses or health challenges in order to educate researchers about what matters to patients. Those being treated recorded their individual stories at home and submitted them to the MyPaTH project. Patients could also tell their stories in recording booths located at both Pitt Medical School and Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore.
Last year, dozens of Pitt-Bradford art students each selected previously recorded individual stories that they found interesting or meaningful.
Anna Lemnitzer, then-director of the interdisciplinary arts program at Pitt-Bradford, and other members of the art faculty prompted students to think about what colors, patterns and images their selected stories made them think of.
“While exploring stories, the artists found they related on multiple levels,” Lemnitzer said. “There’s a unique bond from the artist to the storyteller.”
Earlier this summer, students unveiled their work in an online event that included the patients whose stories inspired the art.
Jess Jordan, a 2021 interdisciplinary arts graduate from St. Marys, spoke about her artwork, which she created after hearing the story of a woman diagnosed with Legionnaire’s Disease. In her recording, the woman had spoken about the importance of faith to her.
Jordan said she chose yellow for hope and overlapped yellow squares with blue to create patches of green representing growth.
In interpreting another story, Jordan depicted flowers growing from a heart held in someone’s hands.
“I had so much fun with the creative process for these two pieces, and I’m so grateful that the patients were willing to share their stories,” Jordan said.
Each piece of artwork can be seen at www.storybooth.pitt.edu/Gallery.aspx, where it appears with its inspirational story. When it is safe to do so, the art will be displayed with QR codes that allow viewers to access the stories with a smart phone.
Elizabeth DeJong was a storyteller who took part in the online opening of the gallery. Diagnosed with lung cancer, DeJong had told her story in 2018.
“Seeing it through somebody else’s eyes was fascinating to me,” she said. “It was a very moving experience for me to see that.”
Another storyteller shared her experience of being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease, which affects the thyroid gland. “It was really emotional to see it,” she said. “Even as right now I am still going through the emotions and having to go through advocacy. It was touching and inspiring to see this alongside the other storytellers.”
To tell the young woman’s story, the artist depicted the young woman’s struggle to connect with her own body and initially have doctors listen to her.
Susan, a breast cancer survivor, said of the art for her story created by Kustain Stainkeiwic, a psychology major from Clifford Township. “I love the picture, and I love the colors. I love that it shows the beauty of flowers where there are scars.”
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