Project offers patients a way to share their illness journey

A UNBC academic is working to help patients turn their stories into an artistic and educational experience.

Darian Goldin Stahl’s project will have area residents creating artistis' books that depict their experiences of illness and disability that will later be presented in a collection for medical students to see the world of medicine is seen through the eyes of patients.

Stahl, a 2021 Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at UNBC, was inspired to take on this project because of her sister’s experiences with multiple sclerosis.

“The artistry that can be incorporated into this medium goes far beyond a typical book, from collage-making to print art or paintings and so much more,”  Stahl, who studied printmaking in both her undergraduate and master’s degree programs, said. “The format of an artists’ book really lends itself to a narrative that can incorporate not only text or images, but also sensory aspects such as touch and smell. It can become this amazing archive of experience held within a mobile book form.”      

Stahl is looking for the abook to offer an opportunity for the patient to express themselves not only through text but any way they wish so that some insight into their path can be seen by others.

“Artists’ books offer an opportunity for anyone to be able to tell you their story, in a way that doesn’t rely on words whatsoever but on other sensory ways of communication,” she explained.

“When you hold a book like this in your hands, it’s so impactful to know that somebody created this for you to discover more about them and their experiences in medicine, as an old person, or someone with disability, or as a young person who is ill. These books are powerful because they require you to take the time to explore them with your sensing body, helping to create a more empathetic relation to another person’s story.”

The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program is designed to attract and retain top-tier researchers, both domestically and internationally. Each year, 70 fellowships are awarded, worth $70,000 a year for two years.

UNBC geography professor Sarah de Leeuw will supervise Stahl’s fellowship. De Leeuw is the Canada Research Chair in Humanities and Health Inequities, a professor with the UBC Northern Medical Program and the research director of the Health Arts Research Centre (HARC) based at UNBC. Stahl is also a contributor to HARC and the centre will play a key role in Stahl’s initiative as it will form the main network for participants in the bookmaking project.

Stahl will also work closely with Briar Craig, a professor at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan, in his printmaking studio.

Stahl holds a bachelor’s degree (Indiana University) and a master’s degree (University of Alberta) in printmaking, and recently completed her PhD in humanities from Concordia University in Montreal. She was also a visiting scholar at the University of Kent in the UK in 2019, residing in their Prescriptions Collection of more than 70 artists’ books about illness, disability, medical encounters and bodily concerns.

“What I think is really exciting about this project is that it can be used again and again in the future,” Stahl said. “This will be a physical archive to be used in perpetuity. These books can be picked up by medical students 20 years from now, and they will still be able to feel like they are present with the person that made the book and the emotions they were feeling during that moment in time. My hope is to make these lived experiences resonate with them as they’re learning medicine, so that the patient is always represented.”