Sometimes I do private, pro-bono, individualized medical histories for people who have had some kind of medical trauma. In Products of Conception, I wrote about the extraordinary outcome of one such encounter.
After I helped her figure out what her stillborn conjoined twins (born almost three decades earlier) had looked like, Minnesota-based artist Deb Costandine took what she remembered and what she had learned anew and produced a stunning series of artworks in response.
This past December (2007), Deb and her artwork came to the Feinberg School of Medicine (my school) at Northwestern University in downtown Chicago. Three of her sculptures and four her paintings stayed on display for over a month in the Galter Health Sciences Library, and on December 6, Deb spoke about her experiences and her art to an assembled audience of clinicians, faculty, and medical/medical humanities students. Then three Northwestern scholars spoke to accentuate the themes emerging and to honor Deb and her work. These were: Gretchen Case(performance studies and medical humanities); Kristi Kirschner (disability studies, medical ethics, rehabilitation medicine); and Jeanne Dunning (art theory & practice). It was a really moving and enlightening event. As she spent a few days with us, Deb kept remembering more and more, and we kept learning more and more about how she thought of her history and her art. We all benefitted so much from Deb’s extraordinary honesty and generosity.
Below are some pictures from the events. The Feinberg School of Medicine purchased from Deb the first sculpture she made of her twins. The plan is to include that sculpture in a museum that will contextualize our “babies in bottles” anatomy lab collection. Deb kindly gave me her beautiful sculpture of Abigail and Brittany Hensel as a thanks for helping her. (I love it!) The third sculpture, called “Michael David,” was recently purchased from Deb by my friend and colleague Paul Vasey, who visited me last month and was deeply impressed by Deb’s work.
Several of the paintings from the series (“Mandelbro’s and Juliasets”) are now for sale, and if you are interested in purchasing one or in scheduling a visit by Deb to your institution, please feel free to contact her directly at costandine at hotmail dot com.
A big “thank you!” for sponsorships of Deb’s visit and the art display goes to the Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program, the Galter Health Science Library, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Donnelley Family Disability Ethics Program. Thanks also to Gretchen Case and Kathryn Montgomery for organizing these events with me, and thanks for the substantial assistance of the library staff, particularly Ron Sims, the special collections librarian, and Jim Shedlock, the library’s director. Thanks also to Bryan Morrison for creating the great poster for the events.
Below: panel at the Galter Library, with sculptures in the foreground and one painting in the background. On the panel, shown from left to right: Gretchen Case, Jeanne Dunning (speaking), Deb Costandine, Kristi Kirschner.
Below: The fist sculpture Deb made of her boys after I sent her the material described in “Products of Conception,” shown in progress at the ceramics studio. Note the photo from medical literature in background.
Below: The same sculpture (“My Boys”), shown after painting, glazing, and firing, on display at the Galter Library. This remarkable work is now in the collection of the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University.
Below: “Michael David” (sculpture)on display at the Galter Library, with the painting “Mandelbro’s and Juliasets #2” shown on the wall. Deb used a theme of fractal geometry in the “Mandelbro’s and Juliasets” paintings to reflect the way conjoined twinning happens, and more generally to reflect the splitting-and-connecting of human life.
Below: “Mandelbro’s and Juliasets #1.”
Below: “Mandlebro’s and Juliasets #3.”
Below: Deb’s sculpture of Abby and Brittany Hensel when they were children. (I especially love their bouncy ponytails–they were such bouncy kids!–and the way she has them posed.)
Below: Special collections librarian Ron Sims. Ron provided historical texts about conjoined twins to complement the display of the art.
As if she hadn’t done enough for us, after her visit Deb sent people who had helped cards with more original artwork, featuring absolutely exquisite imaginations of conjoined twins of various sorts. These photos show just a few of those she made and sent.
Below: A picture of Deb at work on the paintings in the “Mandelbro’s and Juliasets” series. She is shown here using an air-brushing technique (hence the mask on her head).
All artwork and reproductions of artwork shown here copyright Deborah Costandine, 2007-2008. These images may not be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder.