ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the potential for photographs to improve interaction in the medical pain consulting room through the example of a Fine Art Medical Collaboration at University College Hospital, London, UK. It focuses on one specific series of images – the shadow sandwich – exploring the multiple interpretations it elicited, which, arguably, parallel the way multiple experiences of an encounter can co-exist in the consulting room. The chapter discusses the spontaneity of the creative process allows it to touch the shadows, to reach the unconscious and via the image bring elements to the surface. In language, ‘shadow’ is often used metaphorically to suggest diminished abilities, power, strength or beauty, as in ‘a shadow of his/her former self.’ If the shadow represents the unlived and repressed side of the ego, giving the shadow form could be a positive thing. Carl Gustav Jung, however, also claims this interpretation is a misunderstanding and that ‘the shadow is simply the whole unconscious.’
