Hospital Aesthetics: Disability, Care, and the Medical Imaginary
Department of Disability and Human Development Colloquium
February 19, 2026
4:00 PM - 5:15 PM
Department of Disability and Human Development Colloquium
Hospital Aesthetics: Disability, Care, and the Medical Imaginary
Join us for a conversation exploring the concept of hospital aesthetics—how medical spaces, technologies, and systems shape embodied experience, representation, and care—through the lens of contemporary disability art. The event will feature a presentation by Amanda Cachia, introducing key ideas from her book Hospital Aesthetics, followed by responses from artists Riva Lehrer and Sandie Yi, both of whom are featured in the publication. Lehrer will reflect on her portrait of Alice Wong, as well as other works discussed in the book, including Corner (Terra Incognita). Yi will share reflections on her artistic practice and its relationship to medical systems, disability, and lived experience. Together, the speakers will consider how disability artists challenge dominant medical narratives, reframe clinical and institutional environments, and propose alternative aesthetics rooted in access, interdependence, and care, drawing on both artistic practice and personal encounters with the medical industrial complex.
Access Doulas, ASL Interpretation, CART, and Visual Description will be available.
In collaboration with Bodies of Work, Disability Culture Center, Access Living, and Disability Culture Activism Lab.
Date posted
Jan 27, 2026
Date updated
Jan 27, 2026