Internalities, by Rachel Pernick & Teasha Luu

Art Exhibit Reception

Opening reception for "Internalities," quilts, fiber art, and sculpture, by Rachel Pernick & Teasha Luu. Exhibit runs from November 14, 2026–January 8, 2027.

Artist's Statement

These works, created by two medical students in the midst of their training, explore themes of pathology, physiology, and what it means to be well and unwell. These works also probe the emotional and psychological sequelae of medical training, which forces us to reckon with morbidity and mortality while maintaining humanistic, compassionate care. Medical training is demanding, and it is sometimes easy to lose sight of the patient in front of you, favoring the parts in lieu of the whole. In these works, the artists reflect on the contradictions in their own experiences of medical training, centering both patient and physician as critical players in the practice of medicine.

Teasha’s work embraces the dichotomy of medicine through recognizing the beauty and burden, the joy and exhaustion, and the healing and hurt. Through fiber art and sculptural work, she uses familiar objects and forms to explore experiences that are often difficult to see. Medicine teaches us to look beneath the surface to interpret symptoms and identify pathology, yet the most important parts of illness are often invisible such as grief, fear, and resilience. Her work holds these contradictions together. Some pieces are playful and lighthearted, while others reflect the weight of illness and the emotional toll of becoming a physician. Together, they explore what it means to care for others while still maintaining the humanity of us all.

Rachel’s work is concerned with the inner workings of the human body, and the myriad ways things can go awry. Her early quilts memorialize a certain ignorance to anatomy and physiology– as she herself was learning this material– as well as a certain awe. The exhibit title, “Internalities,” explores the binary between the external and internal– how we present publicly and what we endure privately; what realities exist internally which might not be realized to an outside observer; the diagnostic work in examining a patient to ascertain what might be happening inside.

Artist's Bio

Rachel Pernick is a medical student at the University of Utah. She has been quilting since she moved to Utah six years ago, and has been constructing quilts throughout medical school. Most fabrics are acquired secondhand– hospital scrubs and gowns, bedsheets, discarded clothing– and many are hand-dyed. She constructs quilts as a way of making sense of what she learns throughout medical school and in clinical training, constantly encountering and imaging what’s inside our bodies, and where, and what can go wrong. She earned a BS in Comparative Literature from The University of Michigan, and also experiments in other fiber arts and printmaking. After medical school she hopes to practice primary care.

Teasha Luu is a medical student and self-taught artist who creates primarily through fiber art, sculpture, and mixed media. Art has always been a creative outlet and source of enjoyment for her. She is drawn to the process of transforming ordinary materials into something unexpected. Her interest in fiber arts grew during medical school, when creating became an important way to step outside the structure and intensity of medical training. What began simply as a hobby gradually became a form of self expression. While she continues to make playful and lighthearted pieces, she began incorporating medical imagery and experiences into her work as a way to explore the different aspects of medical training.Her work ranges from traditional fiber pieces to sculptural interpretations of different elements of medicine. She enjoys the contrast between the softness of materials such as yarn and fabric and the heavier subjects they represent. For Teasha, art is ultimately a space for experimentation and fun; a place where she can create freely.

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