Gabrielle Murphy

The art of expression

Art is an expression made visible by a form. The expression contained in the form is an attempt to translate the unnamed and the unknown. Intrinsic to our existence as humans is our quest to create meaning, and art allows that process to take place. Making meaning involves understanding our surroundings and marking our experiences. Art, at its root, is an expression and the artist is an expresser, translating in order to create meaning. Art expresses and translates, art acknowledges and reveals, art transfers and art intervenes. Art is an expression—an expression of feeling, belief, and character. The simplicity of that sentence is rather deceptive and seems tidier than its implications. Just the statement that art is an expression is complex and raises questions: What does art express? Why does art express? How does art express? What does art express? The second part of the statement above seeks to expound upon this question. Feelings, beliefs, characteristics—these are what art expresses, although often they are not easily distilled. Our lives as humans are full of complications and complexities, and our thought and experienced feelings, beliefs and characteristics are reflective of these complexities. Why does art express? Art expresses as a result of the intricacies of life, as a result of humans continually searching for meaning, making meaning out of lived or observed experiences, and attempting to connect to other humans (Camic 289). Art —in the past and in the present, even still—continuously strives to establish an understanding of the unknown, to name the unnamed, to mark the ordinary, and to dignify our existence. Central to each of those purposes are emotions (Camic 290). Expressions involve emotions and the act of expression is wherein the power of art lies (Langer 67). How does art express? Art expresses, and the expression is contained within a form. The word contained, at first glance, is misleading, and although the form is undoubtedly what holds the expression, the form is not necessarily static or permanent; the form can be dynamic (Dryden 196). The form, regardless of whether it is static or dynamic, is what captures the expression—the artists inner truths. These truths, in order for the art to communicate the expression authentically, must connect with the artists experience—her or his lived or observed experience (Gillis 106).

Treatment of trauma patients hits UK headlines

mentary—part of the QED science series—and the BOA report was sparked off about a week ago by a quasi-press release sent to health professionals, coroners’ offices, newspapers, and medical journals. Headed “BBC Television QED”, and subheaded “Iatrogenic Injuries” the release named the Royal Free Hospital, London, UK, as the hospital at the centre of the QED programme. The organisation distributing the document was “M-L D Monitor (UK)”. Cause of Death is a true story about a 23-year-old motorcyclist who sustains supposedly “minor injuries” but dies 2 weeks later due to alleged mismanagement on the orthopaedic ward. The programme identifies the father of the deceased as the source of MedicalLegal Dispatch Monitor. In a press release, the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust states that the BBC did not ask for any information in connection with the QED programme, but that they believe the programme concerns a patient who died at the Royal Free 9 years ago. The BOA press release calls for “an urgent review of emergency care for the seriously injured”, and says that their report reveals that in addition to the unnecessary deaths because of inappropriate emergency treatment, 12% of patients treated for serious injury are unnecessarily disabled in the long term for the same reason. The BOA are asking for a coordinating policy to establish a nationwide trauma referral system that would allow stabilisation of trauma patients at base, with early transfer to specialised multidisciplinary trauma units where appropriate. The BOA argues that in the long term such a scheme would be self-financing. The Royal College of Surgeons’ report calls for, among other things, a consultant-based emergency service, 24-hour availability of emergency operating theatres, and admission of emergency patients to a unit with the necessary skills and resources.

South African health care in black and white

Summary Since she was sworn in as Minister of Health after the first democratic elections in South Africa 4 years ago Nkosazana Zuma has been at the centre of controversy. Having completed her medical degree in exile at Bristol University, UK, her subsequent quest to change the face of the South African health system, skewed by decades of apartheid, seems to be succeeding. Her zeal and uncompromising spirit have earned her stalwart support from President Nelson Mandela, but she has also engendered ferocious criticism, not necessarily of her policies, but of her method of implementation and lack of planning and costing. More recently critics have voiced concern over new legislation that they say will give her the power to override statutory bodies and undermine the democratic process. Addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic, probably the biggest challenge to the health-care system and the economy, has garnered further criticism for Zuma, and indeed the ruling African National Congress (ANC), for their interest in the further investigation of the experimental drug Virodene, promoted by its developers as a cure for AIDS. Since this interview took place, public disapproval is mounting in South Africa over her proposed plans to dissolve the Medicines Control Council and to close tertiary hospital beds.