Since time immemorial humans have sought and invented innumerable ways to heal and make sense of our ailments. 

‘Cut and Paste the Body’ began as a way to self-soothe — a response to the intensity of medical training. On paper torn from the back of childhood drawing pads, I worked on the floor, with scissors and glue, to recycle obsolete textbooks into something new. 

As such, this project is first a meditative practice and creative outlet for myself. Physician heal thyself, and all. 

It is an opportunity to remember the narratives I have received, reflect on the human experience, and integrate them into visual poetry that can be interpreted as the viewer chooses. It is also an appeal for a greater integration of the healing arts back into medicine. It is an acknowledgement of the innate and ancient wisdom in each and every one of us. It is a call to restore harmony within ourselves, with each-other, and with our planet. 

In composing my visions, I hope to recall what brought me here. The belief in the wholeness of ourselves and that health is not produced but made present. That medicine is an art as much as a science. And that it belongs to nature. 

Collage imposes boundaries that challenge me as an artist. It requires that I work at the slow speed of nature with a focus that is hard to touch in today’s endless supply of distractions. My hope is that this work asks the same level of concentration from you.