In our lives, we all face questions around health, illness, and pain — moments that lead us to seek medical advice or care. While medical technology continues to evolve, language remains our first and most powerful diagnostic tool. The way we describe pain not only conveys symptoms but also shapes how both patients and professionals make sense of illness and healing.
In this SCA Masterclass – Picturing Pain: How language and metaphors shape health care encounters, Jana Declercq introduces a unique interdisciplinary project bridging science, art, and clinical practice. Together with visual artist Octavia Roodt and postdoctoral researcher Ella van Hest, she explores how metaphors used in conversations about chronic pain can be transformed into visual artworks — new tools to support empathy, understanding, and communication in health care settings.
Through empirical research and creative collaboration with patients and practitioners, this project reveals how metaphors influence not only what we say, but how we feel and heal. Declercq will share insights into this process and reflect on the promises and pitfalls of merging art and science to improve the human experience of care.
