Community Health Priorities Sponsors “Portland Acupuncture Project”
By:
NWHF Staff
| Posted on: June 1st, 2010
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Categories:
Environmental Health •
Disparities •
Public Health •
Urban Issues
Community Health Priorities is a sponsor of artist Adam Kuby’s “Portland Acupuncture Project,” which places 35-foot acupuncture needles into the “skin” of Portland at carefully selected sites around town.
Both CHP and the Acupuncture effort share a common viewpoint: That the health of a person, and the health of the community, are both highly influenced by a multitude of social, economic, and environmental factors.
And in the case of people, most of those factors lie outside the doctor’s office.
Kuby’s work is also an affirmation of the power of the artistic process to communicate ideas and messages is ways that can be difficult, or even impossible, through the written word.
In a recent article in the Oregonian, Helena Huang, Northwest Health Foundation board member, and obvious fan of the project, said “Our foundation is looking holistically at neighborhoods, and we see the acupuncture needles as an incredible way to draw attention to and engage people in the issues we care about.”
As Susan Anderson, Director of Portland’s Bureau of Planning & Sustainability said that:
Kuby uses “the body as a metaphor for the entire city,
and hopes to identify those places in the landscape that are important to us as a community.”
She also said the work draws attention not only to the significance of each focal point but also to:
“the interconnectedness of them to each other as well as to ourselves.”
What do you think?
A worthwhile project?
A waste of resources?
Is there a place in healing for the role of artist?
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I think anything that brings awareness to health can be looked upon with some degree of favor. I especially enjoy the point the article makes when it talks about how art can do a much better job of getting a message across then a bunch of words.
People can read a research article about healthy habits until they are blue in the face. Yet, it won’t resonate to the extent that seeing a piece of art on the way home from work may inspire them to take an evening walk.
Once on this walk, they may take more notice of their neighborhood: Is it clean? Could that dirt lot be turned into a lovely garden? Are there spaces for children to safely play?
Upon completing the walk, good health is on the mind, so one is much more likely to ditch junk food in favor of nutrient rich foods as to not sabotage the positive effects of the exercise.
Clearly this would be a best case scenario, but it shows how a piece of art could inspire people to take more care of self and community.