2022 White Coat Warm HeART

This painting represents motherhood. “Amma” means mother in Tamil. It is dedicated to my own Amma, an incredible woman who has overcome all odds to provide a better life for her three children. She came from a war-torn country with nothing, and she sacrificed everything so that her children could receive opportunities that she never had. Today, she is an incredible grandmother who spreads her love and kindness to every life that she touches.

Alopecia: This piece is part of a creative arts project illustrating dermatological conditions. I aimed to highlight the beauty of a person comes from inside and not the things that adorn the body. The blue halo emanates a calming radiance, and an expression of joy and light-heartedness aims to portray the freedom of acceptance of ourselves by ourselves, and by others.

This abstract art pays homage to the complexity and the intricate details of human anatomy through a series of overlapped depictions of the various organs, tissues, and cells. The backdrop is formed by the blood circulation which is metaphorically synonymous with the numerous stars in the vastness of the Milky Way galaxy.

I am very new to medicine and am still learning so much, but I can already see that the heart of being a doctor isn’t just knowledge - it’s also the people we work with and the moments we share with them. I think it’s important to remember that we are going to be more than our brains as doctors, and that we need to keep our hearts open to those around us to truly help them.

This piece originally began as an acrylic pour – layering paints and letting them move. Unsatisfied with results, I pulled the paint across the canvas in a swipe technique. Still unsatisfied, I blackened the majority of the piece. Shadow and light details were added to create the beautiful Mother Earth. Stars appeared, and off we went, floating into space.

September 30, Orange Shirt was Canada’s First National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The findings of the unmarked graves of so many children at the sites of the Indian Residential Schools brought us all together as a country in a state of national grief, shame and remembrance.

I enjoy using a range of media to record reflections from my personal life. In this piece, “Everything”, I depict the relationship between the wandering mind and the present at the interface of reality.

For many, hope in the time of Covid took the form of forgotten pastimes, like gardening, that were once the daily rituals of existence. This Nasturtium offered solace. It was the first of my flowers to bloom. A gentle reminder that pleasure and joy can exist in the simplest of things. Hope is the simple act of sowing a seed.

Amidst an arduous semester of medical school during the pandemic, the field of medicine has served as both a constant source of exhaustion and inspiration. This line sketch was drawn digitally with the intention of recognizing the responsibility that lies ahead of me, as well as admiring the determination of those on the front lines.

Jisskewinini, Randy Msheekehn Trudeau is resting on the ice field enjoying the warm midday winter sun on the shores of lake Huron in the traditional territory of the Anishinabe People on Manitoulin Island. Hand made traditional mitts, tossed on the ice, unassumingly take on the shape of a heart, inadvertently symbolizing the healing that can be found in this wilderness. Shkagamik Kwe (the earth) invites you to rest in your humanity and take a break from all that is COVID-19.

At the core of this painting is the utmost significance of land and land-based learning. The inclusion of indigenous elements in a clinic, consultation with the elders, talking circles, and life-long learning approach-based programs can catalyze the process of indigenization. The four corners of the painting anticlockwise illustrate storytelling, experiential learning, circular rubric, and two eyed seeing pedagogies.

During my research career I spent hours studying survival plots, now I really understand what they mean.

Each healthcare professional has an evolving journey inspired by the various mentors in their personal and professional lives. I draw a lot of strength from my mother who is an impeccable combination of intelligence, humility, perseverance, and kindness. Educators in healthcare have an opportunity to positively impact the institutional cultures and their mentees through hidden curriculum.

Vitiligo: This piece is part of a creative arts project illustrating dermatological conditions. I aimed to highlight a common presentation of this disease in a person where it is most prominent. The yellow surrounding gives a lightness to the relatable subject as he casually fixes his hair. The subject’s comfort in his own skin brings a calmness to this contrasting image.

I am an Interdisciplinary Humanities scholar. I investigate Westernized thought in relationship with death and dying through autobiographical accounts of illness narratives in visual art, interested in what these works do for the artists, viewers and broader understanding of health towards a more humanistic medicine. Mirror Space, uses large-scale embroidery to explore the vulnerabilities of an embodied existence.

This piece explores the role that menstruation, or "moon time" in Indigenous cultures, plays in building families. It explores my experience as a first-time mother, as I decided to grow my family, working in partnership with my moon time.

This piece depicts a newborn about to enter a life-saving open heart surgery. It represents the moment that the mother hands the baby over to the surgical team. Cree syllabics depict the words, "mother" and "medicine", while the open chest shows the heart full of life potential. This opportunity for life would not be possible if it weren't for mother and medicine.

I made this pen & ink drawing while listening to a podcast about the psychology of self-doubt. Interestingly, the final drawing seems to emulate the loops, drops and rises that make up our life-long journey in developing a sense of self. In my professional life, I use art as a means of self-preservation and reflection, as well as for learning and teaching in my medical training.

I live on Treaty 7 territory in Alberta, Canada. Territorial acknowledgements are often on my lips and in my ears. These photos and video are another way for me to acknowledge the Blackfoot land under my feet.

He is “a Spiritual Being of the Medicines and Roots” and in my language I call him a Jisskewinini. His body and the land are one and the same. His heart is Odawa Mnis (aka Manitoulin Island). His mind is comprised of the rocks and deep lakes on Odawa Mnis. Love (gzaagidwin) is the blood that flows through his body, while nurturing his brain. I know him because I am in the wilderness every day, learning the ways of Shkamikwe (the earth) and Sabe in Healing of myself & others.

All that you see in this picture is related to my way of knowing the healing properties of Shkagamik Kwe (Mother Earth) from an Anishinaabe perspective. The feather, the land, the water, the sun and every brush stroke have meaning. The scene is a reminder to educate students so they may provide good care to Indigenous people one day.

Trees, animals, people and spirits are part of a collective whole of the natural world. All of these Beings collect traumatic events and continuously work on healing their life force. The artists invite you to find the shape that speaks to you, share the meaning that it brings forth for you right now and explore how it connects YOUR story to the collective whole.

On May 15, 2021 Yo Yo Ma playing Bach’s Cello Suite No 1 to all those waiting to receive their vaccinations in Pittsfield Massachusetts after he had received his, was a truly inspiring moment of grace and beauty amidst the anxiety and health concerns felt by so many.

Objects, angles, shadows, lights, colors – all these and many other elements come together to create a photograph, which is what initially drew me to photography. It has been an outlet for creativity and allows me to explore aspects of everyday life that go beyond the regimented nature of professional school.

I learned about Takotsubo cardiomyopathy from a 4th year. This disease is also known as broken heart disease, and can mimic symptoms of a heart attack. It is triggered by stressful events like a loved one passing away. A characteristic finding is that the ventricle swells to the shape of a Japanese octopus trap, for which this disease was named. I wanted to draw in the octopus in the trap, and the rest of the undersea organisms kind of just happened!

I live on Treaty 7 territory in Alberta, Canada. Territorial acknowledgements are often on my lips and in my ears. These photos and video are another way for me to acknowledge the Blackfoot land under my feet.

This piece highlights the beauty in the unique functional aspect of fetal circulation. The fetus is snug in the womb, kept alive by the mother that is depicted as an extension of the earth itself. In this image, there is peace; the fetus is completely provided for.

This artwork represents the TRC calls to action numbers twenty-two and twenty-four in the healthcare sector. An indigenous elder is depicted as a guest speaker on an academic day for a group of residents which includes an indigenous representation. The other elements in this painting are the residential schools and their impact on mental health, culturally safe care, and allyship.

As I painted, over three months, 6 year-old Suzy Eshkuntana being rescued from her bombed out family home in Gaza on May 16, 2021, an attack that took the lives of her mother and four siblings, the painting became an expression for me of the pain, loss and suffering of all children experiencing the iniquities of war everywhere.

Inspired by our photography on the ice fields we explored the connection between the land and the heart from a two-eyed seeing perspective using acrylics. Cracks in the melting ice fields promise a glimpse of what lies beneath in the dark and cold water; we are reminded that we know so little of what is knowable. Understanding the heart through some of its beautiful arteries gives us a breathtaking but similarly ephemeral understanding of the life force behind its beat.