Rachel Fein-Smolinksi: Patient Belongings

May 17 – July 20, 2025

James W. Mitchell, Jr., Galleries

Patient Belongings explores the intersection of medical history, chronic illness, and the power structures of Western healthcare through photography, video, and installation. Drawing from personal experience and extensive archival research, Rachel Fein-Smolinski examines how patient narratives are documented, decontextualized, and reinterpreted over time. The exhibition features clinical photographs printed on silk organza, large-scale photo-collages, self-portraiture, and sculptural installations that challenge the authority of medical imagery while revealing the realities of illness. Influenced by speculative fiction, medical archives, and familial history, Patient Belongings transforms the medical archive into a site of critical reflection, questioning the presumed objectivity of documentation and the ways in which bodies are seen, categorized, and remembered. Through a deeply personal yet analytical lens, Fein-Smolinski reclaims the patient’s voice, illuminating the tensions between care, control, and the fragile trust embedded in medical and artistic practices.