Stories

Our words and pictures explore the connections between science, medicine, life and art. Dive into a story no matter where in the world you are. (Want to write for us? Here's how.)

Scars comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Scars

Not every story has a scar, but every scar does have a story.

Part of Body Squabbles

Collage and illustration of a hospital X-Ray room. In the centre of the room is an unclothed woman sat on a black chair seemingly in pain with her eyes closed clutching her belly. Around her are various control boards with dials and x-ray like pictures on the wall. Through a doorway on the right there is a hospital bed with various X-ray apparatus over it. The image is primarily black and white, with the left side room having been coloured various shades of orange and red.
  • Serial
Part4

Demanding a diagnosis for invisible pain

After dozens of hospital visits and handfuls of painkillers, a plethora of scans and tests bring diagnosis closer for Jaipreet Virdi.

Part of Painful realities

Half-body self-portrait of Jo Spence, with her chest wrapped in white muslin secured with two nappy pins and a cross in blue marker pen on skin above her left breast.
  • Essay

Pain, politics and the power of photography

Art historian Giulia Smith explains what she most admires in the work of Jo Spence and Oreet Ashery, and how their approach makes illness political.

Photograph of a young woman and a mother figure in a domestic living room. The young woman is seated in a long dress and and the mother figure stands behind her, hands on her shoulders. They are both gazing out of the window.
  • Essay

A portrait of me with my mother

A series of portraits with stand-in mothers helped Camilla Greenwell to process her grief, and then to question whether our photograph albums are ever really honest.

Reminder comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Reminder

Feeling dizzy yet?

Part of Body Squabbles

The Ethics of Deception

Artist A R Hopwood examines the applications of deception in visual culture, the therapy room, and the science lab and asks: are there any circumstances under which deception can be justified?

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Pencil artwork drawn over a lithograph depicting a large hall with stage. On the stage is a person standing at a lectern using a stick to point at a large (in scale) unclothed woman standing on a table with her arm covering her face. The woman belly has been depicted as red. At the foot of the stage is a crowd of men listening to the presentation. There are more figures working at various desks around the large hall, including one man using a microscope, another looking through a large telescope, and two others a standing over a large globe. Above the stage there is a clock that reads the time 14.45, and latin text that reads 'AMOR DOCTRINE EST ORNAMENTUM PUERI'. The whole scene is black and white with exception of the light being emitted from behind the stage, and the belly of the woman which are shades of orange and red.
  • Serial
Part3

Getting the measure of pain

In the 20th century doctors tried to find a way to measure pain. But even when ‘objective’ measures were rejected, an accurate understanding of another’s pain remained frustratingly elusive.

Part of Painful realities

Photograph of Misbehaving Bodies curator George Vasey sitting in the exhibition space. Behind him are the works of Jo Spence; in the form of photographs and tear sheets hung on white panels, and Oreet Ashery; in the form of a projection of a white figure moving against a white screen.
  • Interview

Inside the mind of George Vasey, co-curator of Misbehaving Bodies

Discover how curator George Vasey honoured the approaches of Jo Spence and Oreet Ashery, who mischievously subvert clichés around illness and death.

Part of Behind the Scenes

Photograph of a section of a Dutch watercolour in an ornate gilded frame. The painting depicts a 17th century birthing scene. In the top right of the frame is a lady in a period blue dress sitting up in a pink four-poster bed, talking to a maiden on her left side who is holding a baby wrapped in an orange blanket. There are four other ladies in the room; the central figure in a black dress, red skirt, and white ruff collar is leaning over to another lady in a golden dress on her right handing out food on a silver tray. In the bottom right of the scene is a lady in a pink and blue dress interacting with a small child.
  • Image gallery

Superstition, contagion and medical rumour

The great generator of confusion, rumours have not spared human health from their chaos. Find out how whispers, gossip and rumours have caused medical mishaps through the ages.

Part of Inside Our Collections

Gym comic by Rob Bidder (detail)
  • Comic

Gym

You run, you lift, you sweat, you gym. You are a human generator.

Part of Body Squabbles

Pencil artwork drawn over an engraving depicting an old anatomy theatre with two men in the centre, by a table looking up towards a large (in scale) unclothed woman standing on the table, arms held away from her body. The whole scene is black and white apart from her torso and left breast, and thin cords woven into some railings which are tinted red.
  • Serial
Part2

The pain that punished feminists

In a society that viewed getting the vote, and pursuing an education and career, as unnatural goals for women, the pain of endometriosis was viewed as nature’s retribution.

Part of Painful realities

Photograph of Bexleyheath Christian Spiritualist Church at night. The two storey building is set in a residential street, detached but sandwiched between other residential buildings. The second storey shows a brightly lit window with a cross shaped light showing in the window. To the right of the building are two cars.
  • Essay

Close encounters of the spiritualist kind

When it comes to practical and emotional advice, Daphne heeds the words of her lost loved ones. Find out how a spiritualist medium helps her stay in touch.