How viewers respond
A sampling of comments . . .
from selected books and articles on art and medicine. . .
View links to these and other writings about Ferguson’s work
These arresting and beautiful drawings of a woman’s body through which the interior skeleton is visible represent the art and body of Laura Ferguson, a visual artist who has severe scoliosis. . . . Her striking figures, in motion or in other positions of daily life, emphasize how natural and human is the body and encourage greater appreciation of the variety and uniqueness of individual bodies. — Felice Aull, Ph.D., M.A., Art Annotation in the “Literature, Arts and Medicine Database” (New York University School of Medicine)
Ferguson’s self-portraits are exquisitely subversive — executed in a style of drawing similar to that found in many eighteenth-century anatomy texts while explicitly being authored by the ’patient’ herself and containing a clear element of eroticism. People who see Ferguson’s work are obviously drawn to it but also provoked by it. [It] raises a radical question: can a scoliotic skeleton be physically painful and gorgeous at the same time? — Alice Domurat Dreger, Ph.D., historian of medicine and patient advocate, in One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal (Harvard University Press)
Over the centuries, the link between anatomy and art has been a close and essential symbiosis, enhancing both art and medicine. But few artists have succeeded as well as Ferguson in depicting in a single image both the anatomy of the lesion and its impact upon the patient. Her marvelous figures bring life and emotion into the traditionally cold science of clinical anatomy. — J. Bruce Beckwith, M.D., in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine , Spring 2004 issue (Johns Hopkins University Press)
from people with disabilities or unusual anatomies:
Your pictures have helped me see how a body with scoliosis can be beautiful, and to become more accepting of my body . . . I could never grasp how beauty could be intertwined with deformity, until I saw your paintings. — Angela B., Boulder, CO
Your work has made me aware of so many new feelings, although paralyzed and not an art connoisseur . . . you have helped me have a better perception of my own body. — Marlene C., Owings Mills, MD
I have to tell you how deeply exciting and beautiful I find your work . . . My right arm and leg were amputated two years ago, and I’m just now developing a friendly relationship with my body. You have helped me feel beautiful. Thank you! — Maureen H., email
from doctors:
For us orthopaedic surgeons dealing with spinal deformities, your drawings and paintings go deep to our hearts. Thanks to you, our specialty becomes recognized as an art and not only as pure mechanics. — Vincent Arlet, M.D., Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Division of Spine Surgery, University of Virginia Health Systems
It is accurate, precise, and compelling. . . . There is skin on what I see as an x-ray, added surfaces that depict beauty, normal activity, normal motion. This moves me beyond the technical spinal analysis and to the analysis of the person. . . . — David W. Polly, MD, Chief of Spine Service, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Minnesota, in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
from artists:
The works themselves are exquisitely beautiful. The original information they contain has opened up new ways of thinking about the human body to artists, doctors, physical therapists, and anyone else lucky enough to have seen them. — Carol Rose Brown, Sante Fe, NM
You instilled my faith in the power of provocative and beautiful imagery. — Carol McLellan, New York, NY
A sampling of comments . . .
from selected books and articles on art and medicine. . .
View links to these and other writings about Ferguson’s workThese arresting and beautiful drawings of a woman’s body through which the interior skeleton is visible represent the art and body of Laura Ferguson, a visual artist who has severe scoliosis. . . . Her striking figures, in motion or in other positions of daily life, emphasize how natural and human is the body and encourage greater appreciation of the variety and uniqueness of individual bodies. — Felice Aull, Ph.D., M.A., Art Annotation in the “Literature, Arts and Medicine Database” (New York University School of Medicine)
Ferguson’s self-portraits are exquisitely subversive — executed in a style of drawing similar to that found in many eighteenth-century anatomy texts while explicitly being authored by the ’patient’ herself and containing a clear element of eroticism. People who see Ferguson’s work are obviously drawn to it but also provoked by it. [It] raises a radical question: can a scoliotic skeleton be physically painful and gorgeous at the same time? — Alice Domurat Dreger, Ph.D., historian of medicine and patient advocate, in One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal (Harvard University Press)
Over the centuries, the link between anatomy and art has been a close and essential symbiosis, enhancing both art and medicine. But few artists have succeeded as well as Ferguson in depicting in a single image both the anatomy of the lesion and its impact upon the patient. Her marvelous figures bring life and emotion into the traditionally cold science of clinical anatomy. — J. Bruce Beckwith, M.D., in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine , Spring 2004 issue (Johns Hopkins University Press)
from people with disabilities or unusual anatomies:
Your pictures have helped me see how a body with scoliosis can be beautiful, and to become more accepting of my body . . . I could never grasp how beauty could be intertwined with deformity, until I saw your paintings. — Angela B., Boulder, CO
Your work has made me aware of so many new feelings, although paralyzed and not an art connoisseur . . . you have helped me have a better perception of my own body. — Marlene C., Owings Mills, MD
I have to tell you how deeply exciting and beautiful I find your work . . . My right arm and leg were amputated two years ago, and I’m just now developing a friendly relationship with my body. You have helped me feel beautiful. Thank you! — Maureen H., email
from doctors:
For us orthopaedic surgeons dealing with spinal deformities, your drawings and paintings go deep to our hearts. Thanks to you, our specialty becomes recognized as an art and not only as pure mechanics. — Vincent Arlet, M.D., Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Division of Spine Surgery, University of Virginia Health Systems
It is accurate, precise, and compelling. . . . There is skin on what I see as an x-ray, added surfaces that depict beauty, normal activity, normal motion. This moves me beyond the technical spinal analysis and to the analysis of the person. . . . — David W. Polly, MD, Chief of Spine Service, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Minnesota, in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
from artists:
The works themselves are exquisitely beautiful. The original information they contain has opened up new ways of thinking about the human body to artists, doctors, physical therapists, and anyone else lucky enough to have seen them. — Carol Rose Brown, Sante Fe, NM
You instilled my faith in the power of provocative and beautiful imagery. — Carol McLellan, New York, NY
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