Vulnerability: In Art and Care (Ack: Benedict Rubbra)

individual
|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|

group

'Vulnerability' by Benedict Rubbra (with permission)

Last weekend I helped my eldest son with some driving SW to Exeter in Devon. While he disappeared to help make a couple's wedding day special (which I understand it was), I spent Saturday morning at Royal Albert Memorial Museum.^*

Serendipity soon arrived as one of the exhibitions was Benedict Rubbra: Eye to Image. I'm very grateful to the artist for being able to display 'Vulnerability' to help illustrate Hodges' model, taking the title literally here; that is, vulnerability within the mental health context plus vulnerable people in society and care.

I had never heard of Mr Rubbra, but I'm glad that I now know not just his work, but his way of working. The video 2/4 below explains the artist's technique:

There are actually several paintings that I could relate to h2cm and travels:

Singing Blackbird

A Wave in Summer

Tranquility
Pantheon (I waited for a plane...)

work that references Fra Angelico

Singing Blackbird and A Wave in Summer are not exhibited at RAMM but are illustrated in: 

Benedict Rubbra: point of balance || Jenny Pery

I've some new draft notes introducing Hodges' model:

The idealised nature of the model is obvious even upon brief examination. How are we intended to navigate the model's axes? Are both similar in this respect? Taking the individual-group axis first, we can see where the idealisation of person-centred care might be located. This is not just by virtue of labelling ('individual'), but is associated with the knowledge that it invites around it. The two upper domains of interpersonal and sciences represent the two forms of nursing care upon which all nursing is based; and around which a parity of esteem debate still rages (Millard and Wessely, 2014). These are mental healthcare (interpersonal) and physical care (the sciences). 

Within these domains we can conceptualise the various activities that make up being human and doing nursing. 

In addition the model as a whole can also be considered, according to need, as being found within a spiritual domain.


Millard, C., Wessely, S., (2014) Parity of esteem between mental and physical health. BMJ 349, g6821–g6821. doi:10.1136/bmj.g6821

*I did my general nurse training at Royal Albert Edward Infirmary - Wigan.