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As a lover of human anatomy,
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I'm so excited that we're finally
putting our bodies at the center of focus.
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Through practices
such as preventive medicine,
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patient empowerment
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and self-monitoring --
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down to now obsessing
over every single step we take in a day.
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All of this works to promote
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a healthy connection
between ourselves and our bodies.
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Despite all this focus
on the healthy self,
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general public knowledge
of the anatomical self is lacking.
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Many people don't know
the location of their vital organs,
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or even how they function.
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And that's because human anatomy
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is a difficult and time-intensive
subject to learn.
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How many of you here
made it through anatomy?
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Wow, good --
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most of you are in medicine.
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I, like you, spent countless hours
memorizing hundreds of structures.
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Something no student of anatomy
could do without the help of visuals.
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Because at the end of the day,
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whether you remember
every little structure or not,
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these medical illustrations are what
makes studying anatomy so intriguing.
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In looking at them,
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we're actually viewing
a manual of our very selves.
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But what happens when we're done studying?
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These beautiful illustrations
are then shut back
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into the pages of a medical textbook,
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or an app,
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referenced only when needed.
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And for the public,
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medical illustrations
may only be encountered passively
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on the walls of a doctor's office.
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From the beginnings of modern medicine,
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medical illustration,
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and therefore anatomy,
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have existed primarily within
the realm of medical education.
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Yet there's something fascinating
happening right now.
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Artists are breaking anatomy
out of the confines of the medical world
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and are thrusting it
into the public space.
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For the past nine years,
I have been cataloguing and sharing
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this rise in anatomical art
with the public --
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all from my perspective
as a medical illustrator.
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But before I get into showing you
how artists are reclaiming anatomy today,
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it's important to understand
how art influenced anatomy in the past.
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Now, anatomy is by its
very nature a visual science,
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and the first anatomists to understand
this lived during the Renaissance.
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They relied on artists
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to help advertise their discoveries
to their peers in the public.
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And this drive to not only teach
but also to entertain
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resulted in some of the strangest
anatomical illustrations.
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Anatomy was caught in a struggle
between science, art and culture
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that lasted for over 500 years.
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Artists rendered
dissected cadavers as alive,
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posed in these humorous
anatomical stripteases.
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Imagine seeing that
in your textbooks today.
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They also showed them as very much dead --
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unwillingly stripped of their skin.
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Disembodied limbs were often
posed in literal still lives.
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And some illustrations
even included pop culture references.
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This is Clara,
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a famous rhinoceros that was
traveling Europe in the mid-1700s,
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at a time when seeing a rhino
was an exciting rarity.
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Including her in this illustration
was akin to celebrity sponsorship today.
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The introduction of color
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then brought a whole new
depth and clarity to anatomy
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that made it stunning.
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By the early 20th century,
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the perfect balance of science
and art had finally been struck
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with the emergence
of medical illustrators.
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They created a universal
representation of anatomy --
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something that was neither alive nor dead,
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that was free from those influences
of artistic culture.
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And this focus on no-frills accuracy
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was precisely for the benefit
of medical education.
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And this is what we
get to study from today.
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But why is it that medical illustration --
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both past and present --
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captures our imaginations?
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Now, we are innately tuned
into the beauty of the human body.
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And medical illustration is still art.
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Nothing can elicit
an emotional response --
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from joy to complete disgust --
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more than the human body.
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And today,
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artists armed with that emotion,
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are grasping anatomy
from the medical world,
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and are reinvigorating it through art
in the most imaginative ways.
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A perfect example of this is Spanish
contemporary artist Fernando Vicente.
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He takes 19th century anatomical
illustrations of the male body
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and envelops them in a female sensuality.
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The women in his paintings taunt us
to view beyond their surface anatomy,
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thereby introducing a strong femininity
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that was previously lacking in the history
of anatomical representation.
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Artistry can also be seen in the repair
and recovery of the human body.
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This is an X-ray of a woman
who fractured and dislocated her ankle
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in a roller-skating accident.
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As a tribute to her trauma,
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she commissioned Montreal-based
architect Federico Carbajal
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to construct a wire sculpture
of her damaged lower leg.
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Now, notice those bright red screws
magnified in the sculpture.
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These are the actual surgical screws
used in reconstructing her ankle.
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It's medical hardware
that's been repurposed as art.
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People often ask me how I choose
the art that I showcase online
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or feature in gallery shows.
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And for me it's a balance
between the technique
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and a concept that pushes the boundaries
of anatomy as a way to know thyself,
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which is why the work
of Michael Reedy struck me.
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His serious figure drawings
are often layered in elements of humor.
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For instance, take a look at her face.
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Notice those red marks.
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Michael manifests the consuming
insecurity of a skin condition
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as these maniacal cartoon monsters
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annoying and out of control
in the background.
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On the mirrored figure,
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he renders the full anatomy
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and covers it in glitter,
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making it look like candy.
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By doing this,
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Michael downplays
the common perception of anatomy
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so closely tied to just disease and death.
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Now, this next concept
might not make much sense,
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but human anatomy
is no longer limited to humans.
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When you were a child,
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did you ever wish
that your toys could come to life?
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Well, Jason Freeny
makes those dreams come true
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with his magical toy dissections.
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(Laughter)
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One might think that this
would bring a morbid edge
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to one's innocent childhood characters,
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but Jason says of his dissections,
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"One thing I've never seen
in a child's reaction to my work is fear."
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It's always wonder,
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amazement
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and wanting to explore.
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Fear of anatomy and guts
is a learned reaction.
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This anatomization also extends to
politically and socially charged objects.
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In Noah Scalin's "Anatomy of War,"
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we see a gun dissected
to reveal human organs.
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But if you look closely,
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you'll notice that it lacks a brain.
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And if you keep looking,
you might also notice
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that Noah has so thoughtfully
placed the rectum
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at the business end of that gun barrel.
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Now, this next artist
I've been following for many years,
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watching him excite
the public about anatomy.
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Danny Quirk is a young artist
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who paints his subjects
in the process of self-dissection.
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He bends the rules of medical illustration
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by inserting a very dramatic
light and shadow.
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And this creates a 3-D illusion
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that lends itself very well
to painting directly on the human skin.
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Danny makes it look as if a person's
skin has actually been removed.
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And this effect --
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also cool and tattoo-like --
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easily transitions
into a medical illustration.
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Now Danny is currently
traveling the world,
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teaching anatomy to the public
via his body paintings,
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which is why it was
so shocking to find out
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that he was rejected
from medical illustration programs.
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But he's doing just fine.
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Then there are artists
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who are extracting anatomy from both
the medical world and the art world
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and are placing it
directly on the streets.
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London-based SHOK-1 paints
giant X-rays of pop culture icons.
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His X-rays show how culture
can come to have an anatomy of its own,
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and conversely how culture can become
part of the anatomy of a person.
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You come to admire his work
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because reproducing X-rays by hand,
let alone with spray paint,
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is extremely difficult.
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But then again this is a street artist,
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who also happens to hold
a degree in applied chemistry.
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Nychos, an Austrian street artist,
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takes the term "exploded view"
to a whole new level,
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splattering human and animal dissections
on walls all over the world.
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Influenced by comics and heavy metal,
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Nychos inserts a very youthful
and enticing energy into anatomy
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that I just love.
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Street artists believe
that art belongs to the public.
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And this street anatomy is so captivating
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because it is the furthest removed
from the medical world.
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It forces you to look at it,
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and confront your own
perceptions about anatomy,
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whether you find it beautiful,
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gross,
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morbid
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or awe-inspiring, like I do.
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That it elicits these responses at all
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is due to our intimate
and often changing relationship with it.
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All of the artists
that I showed you here today
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referenced medical
illustrations for their art.
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But for them,
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anatomy isn't just something to memorize,
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but a base from which to understand
the human body on a meaningful level;
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to depict it in ways that we can relate,
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whether it be through cartoons,
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body painting
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or street art.
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Anatomical art has the power
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to reach far beyond
the pages of a medical textbook,
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to ignite an excitement in the public,
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and reinvigorate an enthusiasm
in the medical world,
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ultimately connecting our innermost selves
with our bodies through art.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
Retired user
Could there be a typo in 9:06 ... giant X-rays of pop culture icons. => ... giant X-rays as pop culture icons?