Legacy: A Durational Performance of Medical/Health Professional Education

Abstract: From 2010 to 2024, I taught ethics, arts, and humanities to medical students as part of their required curriculum. A re-envisioning of the curriculum and a new name for the medical school led to significant changes, including reducing health humanities content. Last spring, tangible evidence of this transformation came when I rescued dozens of white coats from destruction because they carried the name of the old, or “legacy,” curriculum. I worked with a few graduating students to turn these coats into artworks representing their medical education. Reflecting on the effects that medical school and medical students have had on me as a faculty member, even as a non-clinician, I began to imagine a transformed white coat of my own.
I propose a durational performance that will last one entire conference day.

I will be seated in a high-traffic area surrounded by about 60 white coats: a few completed by my students, but most ready for artistic intervention. I will embroider my white coat with initials representing each of the 1600 students I taught over fourteen years. In the tradition of endurance art, which calls for perseverance through discomfort over time, I will sew for the entire day without stopping, except for necessary bio-breaks. As I work, I will talk with audience members about their experiences as faculty and/or students, offering them art supplies to use on the white coats. Together, we will create a visible legacy of our work as educators and learners who persevere and transform each other.

Keywords: performance, medical/health professional education, endurance art