Meditative Tower

Description

This piece is a general representation of my personal understanding of health and the ways in which it has guided my thoughts when I tested positive for COVID-19. The structure represents three layers of understanding, supporting a young girl covered by a dark cloud. The young girl and the dark cloud are a metaphor for how the virus temporarily carried a dark, sad presence over my life, adversely impacting my social, mental, physical and spiritual health. The three foundational layers, however, represent the key models of health that were significant in my understanding of how to approach the virus. The bolts of light ‘emitted’ are meant to represent the way my understanding of these perspectives had helped reduce the darkness and confusion during that tough time. Layer one focuses on medical anthropology and the way my cultural and spiritual understandings played a role in my recovery, specifically focusing on the involvement of certain effective Sudanese and Islamic remedies. Layer two targets my personal beliefs when maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The third and final layer represents how I prioritized the opinions of physicians and professional healthcare workers who rely on the use of medicine to regulate the effects of the virus. Overall, realizing the value of cultural, lifestyle, and medical understandings of health was a substantial element in approaching the COVID-19 Pandemic.