In Carrie Mae Weems’ series, “From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried,” Weems uses appropriation to modify the images taken by J.T. Zealy. Having seen one of the photographs of J.T. Zealy’s titled Jack from the 1850’s, I had an idea where this set of artwork was leaning towards. It portrays sadness, darkness, helplessness and focuses around a ‘scientific subject’, which happened to be slaves during that era. In Weems’ series, her appropriation shows more than just a picture but rather instills a story behind it. She changes the color scheme from black and white to a deep red that makes the images look more powerful. Her use of the color red deeply captures the attention of the audience. As far as being able to read the text while observing the image, I feel that it can be done. The text serves to enhance the experience and gives the viewer something to think about while looking at the work. Without the text, the images may seem mysterious but may also give the viewer slightly more freedom to ponder what the subject may have been feeling when the image was taken. It may be more open to differing opinions without the text. However, with the knowledge that this took place in the 1800’s, we cannot overlook the discrimination and racism that happened during this time. I think Weems’ photographic project went outside the box and captured what I feel these subjects in the picture are feeling. She delivers short powerful messages with a bit of empowerment.

The image I chose was of a woman holding a young boy receiving an injection. The people in the picture look like they are at home in their living room. The family doctor has stopped by to give the child the shot. The young boy is sitting on it’s mother’s lap while the doctor inoculates the child. Two other children look on at the doctor. A boy looks on while holding the back of the doctor’s chair. A girl looks on from the other side of the doctor and holds a basket behind her back. The artist uses tenebroso in this picture. The background surrounding the people is dark while a strong light shines in on this family and doctor. You can’t make out the surrounding objects in the far background. To the side of the people is a child’s crib. I chose this picture because vaccinations happen to be a very important part of living. In earlier times, things were done differently. Instead of people traveling to a doctor’s office to receive care, doctor’s would travel to their patient’s home. In this instance, the doctor has traveled to this family’s home. He could be there to administer medication to the child because he was sick or they were trying to prevent sickness. The children and mother all look on in awe.

The image that I chose from Wellcome Images is called “A Chinese lady (Lo Wanshun) from Canton (Guangzhou) sitting on a couch with a tumor on her left cheek.” This portrait was painted by Lam Qua in 1836.

This image captured my attention because the size of the tumor on the woman’s left cheek stood out to me. The tumor is situated beneath her left ear and it extends forward to her cheeks and nose and goes down to her neck. The woman is sitting gracefully on the wooden bench with both hands on her lap and her legs crossed. She is wearing a blue robe with black collars and a purple skirt. Her foot seems to be bound based on the shape and the type of shoe she was wearing. Her hair is put up into a simple hairdo with two hair ornaments sticking out from the back. She is wearing a jade bangle on both her wrists and a dangle earring on her right ear. Based on her appearance, it seems like she is in her late 30s to early 40s and she should be married and has children.

To me, the striking part of this image is the woman’s expression. Although the left side of her face is disfigured, she doesn’t seem all that sad. Her eyes show tiredness but she has a slight smile for the portrait. Perhaps she has hope that she will receive the right treatment for her tumor at Canton Hospital. This image is very similar to the image we saw in class where two sisters has a deformity in their left eye. Both images depict a physical deformity as a result of some disease or medical condition.

L0037319 Credit: Wellcome Library, London
A Chinese lady (Lo Wanshun) from Canton (Guangzhou) sitting on a couch with a tumour on her left cheek.

V0017575 “Anxious moments”: a sick child, its grieving parents, a nur
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
images@wellcome.ac.uk
http://wellcomeimages.org
“Anxious moments”: a sick child, its grieving parents, a nursemaid and a medical practitioner. Oil painting attributed to John Whitehead Walton, 1894.
By: John Whitehead WaltonPublished: –
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The picture I chose is called “Anxious moments” it is an oil painting attributed to John Whitehead Walton from the year 1894. This painting depicts a scene of a sick child with her grief-stricken parents. A medical practitioner and a nursemaid are at the bedside.

This painting portrays mixed emotions. This painting takes place in the evening because there is a lamp at the bedside table and a glow from the door that looks like the sun is setting outside. The medical practitioner has rushed over and dropped his hat and cane on the floor. He is intent on assessing the child, while the parents are in obvious distress as they are trying to cope with the situation. The nursemaid has possibly given the child some medicine or water because she is holding a bottle while caressing the child and looking intently at the medical practitioner for further instructions. Based on the fact that this painting is from the 19^th century, care is provided at home for children, I can assume that the family had no choice but to call the medical practitioner over to get the child checked. The mother is caring and cannot bear to look and see what could possibly be going wrong with her child. The father is patiently waiting and his expression is troubled and helpless, as he looks at the child in hopes that everything will be okay.

Focusing in on the child; she glows while her surroundings are dim. This gives the painting a feeling of innocence from the child. Her expression is peaceful and without any signs of distress. Despite the surroundings being so dark, looking solely at the child in the picture, it is uplifting. The child is neither suffering nor does it look like she has any form of severe illness.

The reason I found this particular painting striking is because it portrays the value of family and how medicine interacts with family ties. No matter how time goes on, whether it is the 19^th century or the 21^st century, the bond that families have will never change. Each individual in this picture represents the role that each title holds. When a child is sick, the entire family is involved with the healthcare providers. This compares to the imagery that we have discussed in class because it has a complimenting surroundings that reflect the central idea of the image. When we look at this painting we can see how colors, lighting, and facial expressions can give us so much meaning to the painting. It represents the knowledge and system of delivering care at the time the imagery was created. It speaks for itself as does the imagery we have discussed in class.

V0015962 An African medicine man or shaman applying the technique of
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
images@wellcome.ac.uk
http://wellcomeimages.org
An African medicine man or shaman applying the technique of cupping to a patient (using animal horns), which involves drawing blood to the surface of the body. Watercolour.
Published: –
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This image depicts an African medicine man using the practice of cupping on a patient. This painting speaks to me because this is an ancient healing art that has transcended in to current Western use. Cupping is largely practiced in Chinese medicine, but it has dated back as early as 3000BC. It is believed to promote blood flow to heal muscle tension or pain in various areas.

Through heat or suction the skin is vacummed into a cup placed over the targeted area. In the image the healer is using what look to be a hollowed bone or horn of some sort and manually drawing the skin into it with his mouth. In modern use a rubber pump may be used in addition to silicone cups. The cups are then left in place for a short time before removing.  

This is more of an alternative treatment to various ailments, so there is not a lot of research on its effectiveness