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Doctoral Student to Discuss Art, Medicine at UNO

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Mark Gilbert's "Portraits of Care" exhibit at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

Omaha – Two seemingly separate worlds – art and medicine – will be the focus of a special guest lecture event at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center this month.

On Friday, May 30, at 7 p.m., Mark Gilbert, a Scotland-born artist and current Ph.D. candidate at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), will present “The Experience of Portraiture in a Clinical Setting” or “EPICS.”

EPICS will be a discussion of Gilbert’s doctoral work, which focuses on the experiences of artistic interaction between himself and patients attending the Head and Neck Cancer Clinic at UNMC.

The goal of EPICS is to examine the arts as a method of academic research. At the event, Gilbert will share participants’ narratives, both visually and verbally, as well as discuss the emergent themes of his study and their implications for art as a research and teaching model.

“EPICS recognized that non-discursive methods (e.g. pictures, music, dance, poetry, etc.) can be forms of research,” reads an artist description of the project. “Past, present and future; silence and dialogue; listening and questioning; reflecting and experiencing; analyzing and imagining all converged into the resultant narratives of EPICS.”

EPICS is a follow up to another of Gilbert’s projects, “Portraits of Care,” which depicts 26 patients and 20 caregivers and their experiences through approximately 100 portraits. The project was first showcased in 2009 at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and has been the subject of news stories locally as well as nationally.

Gilbert originally earned his Bachelor of Arts from the Glasgow School of Art in 1991. He is currently completing this dissertation on the intersection of art and medicine as part of UNMC’s Medical Sciences Interdepartmental Area (MSIA).

EPICS is a free and open event that is sponsored by Spirituality, Public Health and Religious Studies (SPHRS), an organization coordinated by the UNO Department of Religious Studies and housed in the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center.

For questions about the event, please contact Michele Desmarais at mdesmarais@unomaha.edu.

For media inquiries, please contact Charley Reed, UNO media relations coordinator, at unonews@unomaha.edu or by phone at 402.554.2129.

About the University of Nebraska at Omaha

Located in one of America’s best cities to live, work and learn, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska’s premier metropolitan university. With more than 15,000 students enrolled in 200-plus programs of study, UNO is recognized nationally for its online education, graduate education, military friendliness and community engagement efforts. Founded in 1908, UNO has served learners of all backgrounds for more than 100 years and is dedicated to another century of excellence both in the classroom and in the community.

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