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Clockwise from below left: Doctor and artist Katy Shorttle; the “Shirley” teacup; “Bill”; an art installation featuring mumps; artwork focused on Ebola; and “Susan”.
Susan, represented by a teacup set into molten soap, is chronically short of breath, barely able to ascend the stairs. It’s a frustrating condition that has seen her waking up at night with the feeling that she is drowning. Then there’s Shirley, depicted by a broken cup haphazardly reassembled in combination with rows of tablets. In order to escape her chronic pain, Shirley once took an overdose of paracetamol. Bill, a former farmer disabled by a stroke – and also Katy’s beloved grandfather – inspired a fractured cup supported on twigs and encircled with dried autumn leaves. Bill, who recently passed away, was one of
the inspirations for the project. “He was independent to the end,” Katy says. “Even though he lived on his own, he would throw a Christmas dinner for the lonely elderly. He had his own iPad and was a kind of antidote to the normal stereotype of the elderly, which I found quite inspirational.” And the teacups? “They were just a vehicle,”
says Katy. “I think removing the literal representation of a person gave me the freedom to think about the issue more conceptually and communicate that, rather than depicting an actual person, which would be more limiting.” But, she adds, there’s also something to be said about the function of a cup that is cracked or broken. “If you break them and then mend them, and they’re decorative, is that a valid function or are they now defunct? That question is, I think, quite interesting in terms of society’s interpretation of the elderly. Is that what people think of them? Do they still have a role?”
As with the frailty project, Katy’s other projects also tend to be centred on medical
“Thinking about medicine more widely is bound to have a positive effect on your practice”
reverse is true. She says: “I think any time you spend outside the medical field reflecting, looking at your experiences or thinking about medicine more widely is bound to have a positive effect on your practice, because you’re a more considered and thoughtful doctor. I think that’s always helpful to do in a caring profession when you’re dealing with people in difficult situations.” The harmonious nature of her twin careers has also helped to allay any potential fears that a split focus might cause one to dilute the other. Similarly, any concerns she might have had about training on a part-time basis, something usually associated with Olympic athletes or those having particular care responsibilities, have long been shelved. It has meant her full-time colleagues move on more quickly and she has to get used to working alongside new people a lot of the time, but there are positives as well as negatives in that, she says.
Her approach may not be for everyone, says
issues. She’s looked at the spread of measles, mumps and rubella, in response to the falling numbers of children receiving the MMR vaccine. Another project examined the Ebola outbreak and the way it was reported outside of Africa, and she has even done a series of bittersweet illustrations of animals with ailments.
Art inspiring medicine And just as Katy’s medical experiences have had a positive influence on her art, so the
Katy, but it is an option she would recommend to young doctors with a burning desire to pursue other ambitions in addition to medicine. In her case, she says, having another outlet has proved beneficial rather than harmful to her medical training. “I found a balance by doing something that
I’m really passionate about as well as medicine. I’m lucky to have found a way to combine these two things. I think taking a little step back from medical training has allowed me to enjoy it a lot more.”
Adam Campbell is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to MDDUS publications
PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF DR KATY SHORTTLE
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