science + art

Drawing people, things, and events has been a part of my life since childhood, giving form and meaning to the world around me. During adolescence, as an art & design student, eyes, faces, hands, and trees became the central subjects of my sketchbooks. The detailed contour of a naked tree was a kind of self-portrait, a personal signature where colleagues and friends could recognize the trace of my right hand. Somehow, drawing defined who I was and what I could become!

As an anthropologist, I have used this creative skill to redefine social science, scientific illustration, and ethnographic drawing, enhancing them with metaphor and imagination. Although drawing could be considered as an ancillary activity in my professional project, art is the foundation of everything I do as a researcher. I am not an artist; I am a social scientist using art as a way of knowing and doing (more).

In the following lines, you can find the "colours" and credits of all my 52 published illustrations and the reference of their corresponding essay, article, or book chapter. (All artworks are protected by copyright laws ©. Please do not use or repost without permission.)

Noronha, Susana de (2021) "Frida Kahlo" (English & Portuguese) n Santos, B.S.; Cunha, T.; Nunes, J.A. (Eds.) Dicionário Biográfico Mestras e Mestres do Mundo: coragem e sabedoria [Biographical Dictionary Teachers of the World: Courage and Wisdom], Coimbra: CES-ALICE.

https://alice.ces.uc.pt/mestrxs/?id=27696&pag=23918&id_lingua=1&entry=33858

Noronha, Susana de (2020), “The Pandemic and the Crowded City" (English & Portuguese), Thematic Dossier Archiving the Pandemic. Coimbra: CES.

https://www.ces.uc.pt/en/agenda-noticias/arquivos-da-pandemia/3-abr-2020/a-pandemia-e-a-cidade-cheia

Noronha, Susana de (2019) “Radiant: understanding endometrial cancer, vaginal brachytherapy and motherhood through words and images”, Revista Ñanduty, Vol. 7 (11):104-134.

http://dx.doi.org/10.30612/nty.v7i11.10768

Noronha, Susana de (2019) Transplanted [Acrylic on paper, 21x29.7cm] Virtual Exhibit Objects of Engaging with Migration & Crime Control Infrastructures, Project EXCHANGE (Curators: Marta Martins & Laura Carvalho – CECS-U.Minho).

http://exchange.ics.uminho.pt/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Visual-objects_compressed.pdf

Concept: The painting Transplanted was specifically created for the virtual exhibition titled "Engaging with Migration & Crime Control Infrastructures". The image features a sunflower print, crafted using black acrylic paint on white paper. Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) are human-sized plants, frequently taller, employed here as a metaphor symbolizing the bodies and lives of migrants and refugees. A transplanted flower or plant bears its own roots, still covered with dust and dirt from its previous home. But in order to survive, grow and thrive, it needs a new land, a new ground. Slowly turning their heads towards the Sun, the sunflower is also a metaphor for the enduring succession of days and nights spent by women, men, children, and elders beneath the open sky, devoid of home, shelter or haven. Bought in a flower shop, destined to wither and die, the painting itself embodies a form of transplantation, providing an alternative and more permanent format to the sunflower. This idea underscores our shared responsibility when welcoming "others", forming a community of care, extending a helping hand in a welcoming land. The phrase painting “on paper” further alludes to the movement of countless undocumented families and individuals, lacking official documentation or citizenship rights, but nevertheless an integral part of “us”, of humankind.

Cancer on Paper

Cancro sobre Papel [Cancer on Paper], a scientific illustration project with eight sub-projects and fifty illustrations in photography, painting and creative ethnographic drawing published in the research monograph – Noronha, Susana de (2019) Cancro Sobre Papel: Estórias de oito mulheres Portuguesas entre palavra falada, arte e ciência escrita [Cancer on Paper: the stories of Eight Portuguese women in words, art and science], Coimbra: Almedina.

Noronha, Susana de; Noronha, Olinda (2019) "Olinda's Arm: from (dis)ability to another way of working with objects, a stump, and a body", in Noronha, Susana de (2019) Cancro Sobre Papel: Estórias de oito mulheres Portuguesas entre palavra falada, arte e ciência escrita [Cancer on Paper: the stories of Eight Portuguese women in words, art and science], Coimbra: Almedina.

Noronha, Susana de; Inácio, Ana Rita (about Sandra Madruga) (2019) "Almost a Tree: the melanoma and Sandra's work, the woman with no time to be undone", in Noronha, Susana de (2019) Cancro Sobre Papel: Estórias de oito mulheres Portuguesas entre palavra falada, arte e ciência escrita [Cancer on Paper: the stories of Eight Portuguese women in words, art and science], Coimbra: Almedina.

Noronha, Susana de; Macias, Raquel C. (2019) "Raquel and the Clothes Hanger Neck: makeover, transforming a thyroid carcinoma into an accessory", in Noronha, Susana de (2019) Cancro Sobre Papel: Estórias de oito mulheres Portuguesas entre palavra falada, arte e ciência escrita [Cancer on Paper: the stories of Eight Portuguese women in words, art and science], Coimbra: Almedina.

Noronha, Susana de; Maria (2019) "Maria or the House with Nothing: when a woman vanishes, cancer grows", in Noronha, Susana de (2019) Cancro Sobre Papel: Estórias de oito mulheres Portuguesas entre palavra falada, arte e ciência escrita [Cancer on Paper: the stories of Eight Portuguese women in words, art and science], Coimbra: Almedina.

Noronha, Susana de; Silva, Alexandra (2019) "The Worst Part is Waiting: Alexandra, the eve, the day before, and the many chairs of breast cancer", in Noronha, Susana de (2019) Cancro Sobre Papel: Estórias de oito mulheres Portuguesas entre palavra falada, arte e ciência escrita [Cancer on Paper: the stories of Eight Portuguese women in words, art and science], Coimbra: Almedina.

Noronha, Susana de; Silva, Alexandra (2019) "Patchwork Breast: Silvia's carcinoma and her husband's lymphoma, when cancers blend", in Noronha, Susana de (2019) Cancro Sobre Papel: Estórias de oito mulheres Portuguesas entre palavra falada, arte e ciência escrita [Cancer on Paper: the stories of Eight Portuguese women in words, art and science], Coimbra: Almedina.

Noronha, Susana de; Sousa, Maria João (about Maria Cândida) (2019) "Maria Cândida, the Flowered Mother: one family against the roots of a nasopharyngeal carcinoma", in Noronha, Susana de (2019) Cancro Sobre Papel: Estórias de oito mulheres Portuguesas entre palavra falada, arte e ciência escrita [Cancer on Paper: the stories of Eight Portuguese women in words, art and science], Coimbra: Almedina.

Noronha, Susana de; 'Flor' (about 'Violeta') (2019) "The Empty Dress: Violeta's story between melanoma, death, and memory, thirty years later", in Noronha, Susana de (2019) Cancro Sobre Papel: Estórias de oito mulheres Portuguesas entre palavra falada, arte e ciência escrita [Cancer on Paper: the stories of Eight Portuguese women in words, art and science], Coimbra: Almedina.