Stony Brook Visual Arts in Medicine
In April 2020, the Stony Brook University Visual Arts in Medicine (VAIM) medical student organization began the process of creating a visual montage that reflected the experience of the medical school class during the COVID-19 pandemic. VAIM believes that art gives rise to energies that can promote healing, and that creating and sharing art together forges a communal response in a lived historical moment. VAIM felt an urgent need to bring the medical school community together under a shared project reflecting students' unique experiences. Visual pieces were created by medical students under the prompt "resilience," and these images were compiled into an interpretation of the Stony Brook University shield. Written reflections were also submitted, and parts of these were incorporated into the montage. The completed montage was shared in July 2020 with medical students and the broader Stony Brook University medical community, recognizing and thanking healthcare workers for their contributions and sacrifices over the prior months. VAIM would like to thank Mansi Chandra and Ian Outhwaite for organizing this project, as well as the following individuals for making it possible: Cadence Trapini, Soumya Mandava, Yuwen Cheng, Victoria Ende, Hannah Phillips, Sarah Grosser, and Rebecca Jennings.
