Rachel Mennies

Proof of narrative’s importance—even to physical health and medical treatment.

“One of the last times that I went into his room to meet with him, on his bedside table was a photograph of him when he had indeed been young and healthy and a body builder, and it was this incredible juxtaposition of these two images,” says Chochenoff.

So in the bed there’s his patient — this skeleton of a man — very pale and weak. On the bedside table, there’s this image, this portrait of a glistening muscled giant. And Chochenoff says that sitting there, it was very clear to him that by placing this photograph in such a prominent position, the man was sending a message: This was how he needed to be seen.