The Depth of Field: Exploring Minds, Hearts & Voice exhibition is a series of powerful visual portraits by photographer, Steve Wise and Health Humanities researcher, Associate Professor Gabrielle Brand. Co-produced with six Western Australian mental health consumers and their families, it recounts the honest and raw reality of living and recovering from mental health issues.
These visual narratives exemplify Depth of Field, a growing body of Health Humanities research that uses art (photography, fine art, music and literature), MRI and patient narratives to educate health professionals. Depth of Field represents a new, consumer-driven, reflective learning resource that honours and recognises consumers as experts of their own lives and recovery experiences. It encourages new learning opportunities for healthcare professionals underpinned by stories of strength and possibility.
Integrating these new and innovative resources into the education of health practitioners has the potential to challenge and transform traditional, hierarchical health care relationships and consider more holistic, recovery-centred models for mental health consumers.
Steve Wise is a medical and creative portrait photographer who feeds his personal love of art, creativity and visual narrative through his fine-art portraiture and thrives on the collaborative approach to reflective learning.
Gabrielle Brand is an Associate Professor at Monash University, she is a nurse, teacher and qualitative researcher with a special interest in narrative medicine, health humanities and creative pedagogy in health professions education.
Depth of Field will be on display at the Manjimup Art Gallery from 4-24 June 2022.
