Understanding Breast Cancer Images in Art History as a Form of Health Communication.

Can art and visual images meant for public consumption (museums, galleries, social media platforms) serve as a critical form of health communication for breast cancer patients? For their clinicians? For the population at large? Art history research methods are applied to a range of breast cancer images in western art in order to understand what the images communicate to us about patient experience, agency, and inequity in health care at the time of their construction. The following is a selective look at western art as it reflects and informs our understanding of breast cancer over time.

Sophocles' and Moral Injury in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Strong emotional responses of health-care professionals to the unusual stress of providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic may be consistent with the experience of moral injury. This term, originally used to explain the feelings of guilt, shame, and righteous anger resulting from trauma experienced by US soldiers who felt betrayed by their leaders in combat, has recently been applied to the experiences of health-care workers who know the right thing to do but lack the autonomy, latitude, or authority to do it. Ancient Greek tragedy, which often explores stories about moral challenges, can provide a fruitful context for communicating about this kind of traumatic experience.

The Art and Heart of a Community: Lamar Dodd's in LaGrange, Georgia.

Lamar Dodd was a 20 century American artist, the long-term director of the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia, and an arts advocate raised in LaGrange, Georgia. In the late 1970s after serving as a cultural emissary to the U.S.

Carrying a Community on Their Shoulders: Virgil's Aeneas and the Duty of Healthcare Workers.

The term "duty' has occurred frequently in discussions about the role of healthcare professionals in the current pandemic. Duty can take multiple forms in the professional and private worlds of those working to save the lives of others. At times, different forms of duty create confliciting demands, necessitating some kind of sacrifice.

Face Masks: Their History and the Values They Communicate.

Masks, now recommended and worn by a growing proportion of the world's population, have reflected various perceived meaning across time. This paper provides a brief history of the socio-cultural perceptions attached to wearing a mask by surveying how masks were perceived in ancient Greece and Rome, the origins of medical masks, and the ascribed socio-cultural meaning of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of a mask has historically diverse perceived meanings; currently, wearing a mask communicates a bipolar socio-cultural meaning and a nuanced, divisive symbology.