Morgan Yacoe (BFA ’11), a sculpture alumna, recently taught a workshop to medical residents at VCU to aid in the practice of breast reconstructive surgery. As a teaching tool, Yacoe created a cast from the torso of a woman who had undergone a mastectomy.
Yacoe describes the breast as “a difficult form with lots of subtleties.” In the context of helping a patient recovering from breast cancer, mastering the art and aesthetics of the situation becomes a key part of providing healing
Yacoe’s longtime collaborator, Jennifer Rhodes, M.D., associate professor in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in the VCU School of Medicine, who taught the workshop alongside Yacoe, stresses the importance of teaching this way rather than reading about breast aesthetics in a book.
By designing the models so people can step inside them, Rhodes said, she and Yacoe showed workshop participants, especially the men, what women see when they look down at their bodies.
“That’s one of the most important perspectives to get right, and it was just totally missing from their current education,” Rhodes said. “As a patient advocate and an educator, I felt it was a really important thing to try to get through to them.”
Read about Yacoe’s other medical sculptures at VCU News.
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