Artists' panel (L to R): Jessica Bebenek, Yuki Tam, Ev Ricky (curator of ouch ouch ouch exhibit), Emily Sirota
On April 17, a packed audience filled the reading room of the Osler Library of the History of Medicine for two events exploring the subject of pain. The event opened with an artist panel, pain subjects: artists on illness followed by the vernissage for ouch ouch ouch, a new exhibition by Ev Ricky, the 2024 Michele Larose–Osler Library Artist in Residence.
The panel brought together artists Yuki Tam, Emily Sirota, and Jessica Bebenek in conversation with Ev Ricky to tackle difficult and necessary questions: How do you make visible what can’t be seen? What is the role of narrative—and whose narratives—in shaping how we understand illness and care? The panelists shared selections of their work and offered deeply personal insights into how disability and chronic illness inform their creative practices across video art, sculpture, performance, textiles, poetry, and book arts. The conversation, layered with humour and candour, created space for new ways of thinking about art as a method of survival, resistance, and radical care.
Following the panel, the crowd moved into the Osler’s exhibit space for the vernissage of ouch ouch ouch. Curator Ev Ricky elaborates in the exhibit’s artist’s statement:
In The Body in Pain, Elaine Scarry wrote that ‘to have pain is to have certainty; to hear about pain is to have doubt.’ This influential statement alongside research into early pseudoscientific anatomical iconography, graphic photography, and discourse in contemporary ecofeminisms, forms the basis of ouch ouch ouch… a series of gestures representing the duration of the residency (or a single very long, very painful moment) explores the non-linear, dilatory, and atemporal nature of illness.
The Michele Larose–Osler Library Artist-in-Residence Programme, which made this project possible, was established thanks to the generosity of Dr. Michèle Larose—an artist, paediatric neuropsychiatrist, and McGill alum. This unique residency invites visual artists to explore themes related to health, medicine, and the body, using the Osler Library’s rich historical collections or engaging with McGill’s broader health ecosystem. Projects can take many forms, including painting, photography, performance, digital or installation art, and more.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Larose for supporting this transformative program and to all who joined us on April 17.
ouch ouch ouch is on display during opening hours until August 15 at the Osler Library of the History of Medicine. All are welcome.
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