Broken Bodies:
Redefining Disability

Nathan Makarewicz

In the artist’s words: Dealing with chronic pain and injuries for the entirety of medical school has been frustrating and isolating.  I feel trapped inside a body that I no longer recognize, unable to figure out the instructions or make sense of the pain.  By referencing the statues of classical antiquity, these paintings of isolated figures illustrate my perception of my experience.  Once these statues were formidable depictions of the human form; but now they are tired and broken, left suspended in an abstract void with no direction.  Feeling stuck in limbo without an orientation has been my experience over the past year and a half as I try to find a remedy for my chronic injuries while balancing the demands of medical school.  

Nathan Makarewicz is is a third-year medical student and REACH fellow currently completing a Master of Science degree in epidemiology and clinical research at Stanford. During medical school Nathan developed a chronic illness and physical disability which prompted him to consider how the medical model of disability often conflicts with a person's lived identity. Using imagery from classical antiquity, this series critiques the way disability is often conceptualized in medicine by questioning whether these classical images are unique artworks with a storied history or simply broken statues in need of repair.