Double Take: Alina Szapocznikow

In our Double Take series, Ohio State faculty from two different fields offer their perspectives on Wexner Center exhibitions. Join us as Julia Nelson Hawkins from the Department of Classics and John A. Vaughn, M.D., from the Department of Family Medicine discuss ancient and modern thinking on illness and healing as reflected in the work and life of Alina Szapocznikow.

Nelson Hawkins, an assistant professor, is currently writing a book on medical imagery in Augustan poetry, titled The Poetics of Medicine in Augustan Rome: Therapoetics after Actium. Vaughn is the senior manager of academic engagement for the OSU Student Health Services and executive editor of the Journal of American College Health.

Alina Szapocznikow
Tumors Personified (detail), 1971
Polyester resin, fiberglass, paper, gauze
1 of 15 pieces, 5 15/16–13 inches high
Courtesy Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw
© The Estate of Alina Szapocznikow / Piotr Stanislawski / 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Photo: Manuel Versaen, courtesy WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, 2011