Convalescence

On September 3, 2024, Thomas Jefferson University will premiere an immersive installation by internationally renowned, Philadelphia-based artist Pepón Osorio. 

Convalescence is free and open to all from September 3 to November 1, 2024, on the health sciences campus in Center City Philadelphia, continuing Osorio’s practice of premiering works in the environments that inform them. 

Convalescence is rooted in the artist’s personal experience of cancer diagnosis and treatment. The project highlights systemic health and health care inequities in the U.S. and includes stories from other Philadelphians of color who have lived through, or are currently experiencing, life-threatening illnesses. Drawing on relationships with groups typically underserved by the health care system, Osorio’s installation explores the nature of community-based care. The project extends Jefferson's ongoing medical humanities program, which engages students in the arts and humanities in parallel with their health professions education. A series of public programs created with community-based partners committed to health equity will be coordinated in conjunction with the installation.

“Over the course of his career, Pepón Osorio has cracked open monstrously complex, systemic problems in American life by focusing on the details. By telling real, individual stories and magnifying the everyday objects and environments that surround us, Osorio leads us to new and hopeful understandings of our collective power for change,” said Rob Blackson, curator of Convalescence.

For the first time, Osorio inserts his personal experience as a cancer survivor into the narrative of his work, incorporating materials including his own MRI scans and the chair where he sat over many months to receive his cancer treatments. English- and Spanish-speaking docents, including Thomas Jefferson University health professions students and community members, will guide visitors through the installation, which also features portraits of healthcare workers from the Jefferson cancer care department.

“As future healthcare professionals, our students are increasingly attuned to, and committed to eliminating, the deep-rooted and complex barriers to care in the United States. By working with Pepón Osorio to make his vision a reality in a medical education setting, I feel that we are following their lead as the next generation,” said Megan Voeller, Director of Humanities at Thomas Jefferson University.

The work and accompanying public programs have been developed in collaboration with four Thinking Partners whose lives and careers have been shaped by health injustice: Ricardo Nuila, MD, internal medicine physician and author of “The People’s Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine” (2023), Magda Martinez, a veteran Philadelphia non-profit leader and COO of the Welcoming Center, José Ortiz-Pagán, an artist and cultural administrator belonging to a multi-generational family of healers in Puerto Rico, and Erica “Quinha” Mukai Faria, RN, a registered nurse and multidisciplinary artist who first met Osorio at the hospital where he underwent cancer treatment. Drawing on relationships with medical practitioners as well as groups typically underserved by the healthcare system, Osorio’s installation exposes norms that disempower individuals’ inherent capacity for healing and explores alternative modes for community-based care. 

Related public programs will take place within Convalescence as well as with local community organizations including Norris Square Neighborhood Project, a community-led garden in North Philadelphia, and Fleisher Art Memorial, which for over 125 years has provided arts classes to low-income communities throughout Philadelphia. A complete schedule of programs will be announced in the coming weeks.

Public Programs:

Conversation with the artist

• Tuesday, September 10, 2024, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
  
  Location: Jefferson Alumni Hall Atrium, 1020 Locust Street, Philadelphia 19107 Pepón Osorio in conversation with Magda Martinez

Making alcoholado with Iris Brown of Las Parcelas

• Saturday, September 14, 2024, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
  
  Location: Norris Square Neighborhood Project, 2248 N Palethorp St, Philadelphia, PA 19133
  
  Norris Square Neighborhood Project is a cultural hub that delivers youth programs and stewards six gardens celebrating Puerto Rican culture and history. The gardens were created by Grupo Motivos, a collective of Puerto Rican women living in Kensington. Iris Brown, a co-founder of NSNP's gardens and of Grupo Motivos, is dedicated to cultural exchange, agriculture, and food, strengthening the connections between Kensington and her hometown of Loíza. Iris Brown will lead a workshop where participants will learn how to make alcoholado, a traditional Puerto Rican remedy made from the Malagueta tree and alcohol, used to relieve fever, muscle aches, insect bites, and more. Norris Square Neighborhood Project works in collaboration with The Philadelphia Horticultural Society.

Ricardo Nuila—The People’s Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine

• Tuesday, September 24, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
  
  Location: Jefferson Alumni Hall Atrium, 1020 Locust Street, Philadelphia 19107
  
  Ricardo Nulia will deliver a lecture followed by dialogue with Keith Leaphart, DO, MBA, Enterprise Executive Vice President and Humana Chief Health Equity and Community Impact Officer, Jefferson Health.

Medicinal bath workshop with spiritual mechanic José Ortiz-Pagán

• Saturday, October 12, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
  
  Location: Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
  
  Artist and ritual mechanic José Ortiz-Pagán will lead participants in a workshop to create medicinal bath soaks. Attendees will be guided through the ritual, working with four different plants that are specific to healing trauma, and given special instructions on how to take their sacred baths when in the comfort of their homes.

About Jefferson Humanities & Health

Jefferson Humanities & Health supports student engagement in the arts and humanities to promote essential skills related to healthcare including close observation, critical thinking, communication and empathy. Throughout the year, our programs highlight the social contexts of health and wellness, lived experiences of diverse individuals and communities, and self-care for health professionals. At Sidney Kimmel Medical College, we organize the JeffMD Humanities Selectives, a system of twenty-plus arts and humanities courses for preclinical medical students, as well as a four-year independent research track in the health humanities. Our staff team develops campus, public and patient-centered initiatives including the annual Asano Humanities & Health certificate program, comprising more than fifty events each year, the Helix Gallery exhibition space, and an Artist-in-Residence program with Jefferson Health clinical partners.

Press Contact

Email Sarah Morris

Dates: September 3-November 1, 2024 

Location: Thomas Jefferson University, 901 Walnut Street Lobby, Philadelphia, PA, 19107