Ways of Seeing Narrative medicine
Today’s session Focus on observation & description How do we describe images? How do images tell stories? Task: 1. Write a description of an image (10 mins) 2. Think about how images are constructed. (25 mins) 3. Rewrite the description of the image (15 mins)
Write a description of this image
Systematic observation 1. frame (the location of the image) 2. form (the genre and its meanings; the metaphors and allusions used) 3. content (what is in the image, and their associations for the viewer) 4. composition (the relationship between the objects/people in the image) 5. desire (the viewer’s response) 4
Frame: The location of the image Where does this take place? Time? Location?
Form: Genre, metaphor, allusions?
Form: genre What is the difference between a photograph and a painting? Does the painting attempt to give a faithful image of an event (realist)? show how the viewer perceives the scene (impressionist)? portray an essential or hidden reality (abstract)? manipulate your emotions (expressionist)?
Metaphor or allusion?
Content: what is in the image?
Content: what story does the painting tell?? David and Marjorie Landsborough Kim Yao Chiu The Christian hospital in Chunghua, 1928 Artist: Shi Qiao Li, commissioned by Dr Tsungming Tu
Composition: relationships Centre/Margins Left/Right Top/Bottom Gaze and Gesture
Composition: relationships Centre/Margins Left/Right Top/Bottom Gaze and Gesture
Desire: how do you feel about this picture?
Write about the painting again
NYU Literature, Arts & Medicine