Art in Neuroscience
These works were made during Susanne Ilschner's studies about the neuropsychological impact of Parkinson’s disease during 2017 and 2018.
Susanne worked as an artist for about a decade after art school, and brought her previous experience from many years of neuroscience and pathology lab work to create these art pieces. Some of the images are focussed on lab based discovery, while others are about gaining understanding of patients through long interviews and some testing.
The pieces were exhibited during the FENS conference in Berlin 2018 with over 7000 participants from 75 countries. Some of the artworks were bought by scientists e.g. at the Brisbane Brain Institute, the Charité in Berlin and the John Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Although created some years ago, the works are related and relevant to Susanne's current PhD work. Her work combines experiences in the lab with encountering patients in conversation and through their art.
Susanne said, "It is good to go back and look at these images that were made at a different time and in a different context, but similar in the way they are investigating how unforeseeable and only partially controllable influences shape our physical and emotional world. I remember vividly how a patient was emphasizing how she felt so “discombobulated”. Vice versa, some of the lab related images seem to almost anticipate some of the lab work I am doing now. I am very happy to see this work leading into a broad conversation about endometriosis between many art creators."