Growing, growing, stop: selective emphasis in informal, clinical drawing encounters

This paper developed from the author’s long-term interest in medical illustration and her identification of the important and overlooked practice of drawing in clinical consultations. The Comics and Medicine conference, which draws on a very wide range of medical and graphic expertise across the UK, Europe and the US, is a key forum for the investigation and dissemination of practice and research in the fast-developing field of graphic medicine. In an environment of technically advanced digitised medical imaging the focus of this paper was specifically on manual drawings created by medical professionals to communicate ‘in the moment’. Making the drawing relies, in part, on the principles of sequencing. Instead of there being individual frames, as in a comic, the sequence is overlaid in one drawing. These drawings are not made to be preserved or admired, they are rarely elegant or visually satisfying but they are often called upon as a very efficient method of conveying information. Creating the drawings is a deeply social experience, likely to encourage those involved to crowd over the table fully engaged in the act of drawing and the information being transmitted. Debates surrounding ethics and conduct are increasingly considered as part of clinical training in relation to language register. Drawing, too, has a grammar and syntax. Analysing the act of making a drawing in this context is a rich territory for ethical investigation and research. This paper explored these issues with reference to Barthes’ theories of anchorage and relay and the ideas of McCloud, Sabin and Versaci in relation to comics. It noted more recent investigations into collaborative drawing (Rogers 2008 & Lyon et al 2012) and the relationship between clinical diagnosis and the established Visual Arts practice of ‘looking’ (Bardes 2001). The conference proceedings recorded in the form of a series of podcasts enabled the content of this presentation to remain in the public domain. It has subsequently been used in the US for the teaching of medical students. Link to the podcast on the Graphic Medicine website: http://www.graphicmedicine.org/graphic-medicine-podcast-panel-1b-interdisciplinary-analysis/