CfP: Project Images of Nursing. Still and Moving Representations of Professional Nursing
- Deadline for abstracts: September 30, 2026
- Feedback: October 30, 2026
- Deadline for completed contributions: April 30, 2027
As in literature, professional nursing is a constant, and sometimes even central, theme in art history: Professional nurses appear as characters in the visual arts, in films, and in typical soap operas—portrayed here as well as in these genres as compassionate heroines, dutiful shadow figures, or powerful antagonists to medical authority. Having explored the poetics of nursing in our initial approach to the topic of nursing in art, this next step will focus on visualizations of nursing in photography, painting, and film.
We are seeking contributions that, from a scholarly perspective, focus on professional nurses as individuals or collective bodies and analyze how they are visualized in the aforementioned (art) forms. We are interested in all questions that reveal the ideas, normative assumptions, conceptions, and social contexts underlying such visualizations and how the pictorial realization succeeds in each case. Which symbols are used, which visual language is employed? What does this reveal about the context of creation and/or the intended audience? What assumptions about gender relations are expressed? Which role models or stereotypes are revealed? What themes are addressed? And assuming reciprocal effects: What impact do these visualizations have on society's perception of nursing? Is the discourse on professional nursing influenced? And does the constantly evolving social discourse change the visual representation of nursing? Where are current historical developments reflected?
Scholarly contributions that address one or more of these analytical aspects are welcome, in German or in English.
If you would like to submit a contribution, please send an abstract (max. 500 words) to Prof. Dr. Sabine Nover or JProf. Dr. Katharina Fürholzer by September 30, 2026.