VICDOC Autumn 2023 - Magazine - Page 79
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Dr Jessica Driver
O'Keefe on Instagram
SOMETIMES MY MEDICAL PRACTICE FEATURES
IN MY ART. THERE IS ONE PATIENT, A MAN WITH
JUST ONE LEG, WHO HAD TO WAIT OUTSIDE THE
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT AS WE DIDN’T HAVE
ANY SEATS INSIDE.
He was sitting out there, smoking and
yarning. He was happy, he was alright.
He spoke to a moment in time when there
were no beds available. The piece reflects
how my perceptions — and the medical
community’s perceptions — have changed
over the years as our resources have gotten
tighter and tighter. In my early years I would
have been very worried that this man didn’t
have a bed, maybe even outraged that I was
doing his work up in the ambulance bay.
But this has become our normal. What that
says about us I think we will only be able to
appreciate in retrospect.
SO OFTEN, WE PURSUE OR SEEK TO PRESENT
PERFECTIONISM IN OUR PUBLIC SELVES –
WHAT WE CHOOSE TO CURATE AND PUT
FORWARD TO THE WORLD.
I see this happening for my colleagues,
we’re a bunch of high achievers and we
want to be our perfect selves. But my
art has helped me to realise there is no
such thing as perfect — it’s an impossible
dream. A finished artwork is often quite far
removed from what I had in mind when I
started out, and I’m okay with that —
I like the product at the end of all this
higher brain input that has somehow
perverted the process. It reminds me
that the notion of control can be so
easily and wonderfully thwarted with
fabulous outcomes.
ONE OF MY BIGGEST HIGHLIGHTS SINCE I
BEGAN PAINTING HAS BEEN CONNECTING
AND EXHIBITING WITH THE POLISH
ART FOUNDATION.
They are a progressive, inspiring and
inclusive bunch, I really like what they do.
The Foundation asked me to speak as part
of the most recent Border’s Exhibition,
which I had several pieces in at the Victorian
Artists Society Gallery in East Melbourne.
I was one of four artists in the artists talk,
and I couldn’t have been prouder.
MY ADVICE TO OTHER DOCTORS IS ACTIVELY SEEK
SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN BE NOT VERY GOOD
AT, WHERE FAILURE IS INCONSEQUENTIAL…
AND JUST ENJOY IT!
Don’t wait for the right time, or the right
place or the right inspiration. There is no
such thing. Just start and be crap. And
enjoy being crap at it. We don’t need to
be perfect at everything we do or have a
goal. Make your goal noticing how much it
doesn’t matter if you mess up something in
this space. Revel in the lack of pressure for
perfectionism and the fact it won’t
play on your mind afterwards. Make all
the mistakes you want or need to.
VI CD O C AUTU M N 202 3
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