Respond to ONE of the following prompts (choose A OR B) in a short written essay (500-750 words, or 2-3 pages double-spaced using standard font and margins) that cites at least two readings from the course materials thus far. Use a formal writing style, and include a list of works cited that lists the podcast or artwork(s), the articles from course readings that you have discussed, and any additional sources you have consulted such as websites, books, or newspaper articles. The word length is a guideline, not a hard rule.
Prompt A
Listen to the podcast “The Anthropocene Reviewed: Hot Dog Eating Contest and Chemotherapy, (Links to an external site.)” particularly the segment on chemotherapy which discusses elements of Susan Sontag’s description of cancer (PDF of the relevent segment of the podcast transcriptPreview the document).
Prompt B
Select ONE of the visual artworks posted below, each of which deals in some way with a personal experience of health and illness. Write a critical essay describing how (1) the content of the artwork documents an experience of the body, health, and illness, (2) the formal properties of the artwork produce an aesthetic that provokes a specific response in the audience, and (3) the content and form of the artwork work together. Be sure to address all three points, and to discuss the work in light or readings from the course so far and themes from lecture or tutorials. Your analysis will be strengthened by research about the artwork, about the life and artistic practice of the artist, about the artwork's reception, and about the dictionary definitions of words that may be significant for interpreting the artwork. Page length does not include images and captions.
Artworks for Prompt B (pick one of the following):
Tree of Hope, Keep Firm. Painting by Frida Kahlo. 1946.
https://www.fridakahlo.org/tree-of-hope.jsp (Links to an external site.)
Lethal Weapons. Exhibition of mixed media with HIV+ blood. By Barton Lidice Benes. 1992.
https://visualaids.org/artists/barton-lidice-bene (Links to an external site.)
Quillwork in twenty-nine Parts. Embrodery, porcupine quills, fabric. By Vanessa Dion Fletcher. 2019.
See it in person! https://www.criticaldistance.ca/program/access-is-love-and-love-is-complicated/ (Links to an external site.)
https://www.dionfletcher.com/ (Links to an external site.)
Reclaiming Me. Series of 4 black and white photographs. By Chun-Shan Sandie Yi. 2005.
https://www.cripcouture.org/reclaimingme.html (Links to an external site.)
Bareroot. Sculpture, wood, bronze, ceiling tin and tar. By Alison Saar. 2007.
http://www.lalouver.com/exhibition.cfm?tExhibition_id=503 (Links to an external site.)
https://www.curatorlove.com/journal/lalouver (Links to an external site.)
Sample Solution