Dissenting Bodies | Art, Anatomy and Medicine
Eliza Crossing, Krisztina Valter, Alexandra Webb, Stacey Ward
14 November 2026
Day + Time | Saturday | 2pm-5pm
Location | ANU School of Medicine and Psychology, Science Road, Canberra ACT 2601
Entry | Free
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In an act of dissent against the historical dehumanisation of the human body, this seminar brings together artists and anatomists from the Australian National University (ANU) School of Medicine to explore the use of art and narrative in protecting and preserving the humanity of the corpse. The seminar offers a considered response to the collection and display policies of the first biological archive established in Canberra, the Australian Institute of Anatomy, now the National Film and Sound Archive, whose holdings included dissection samples from unknown soldiers gifted from the Hunterian Museum in London after World War One.
Rather than relying on three-dimensional printed models or digital representations, students at the ANU School of Medicine have the opportunity to work with human anatomy through the ANU Body Donation Program. This seminar will outline how artists and anatomists have worked together on a long term project, The Exquisite Corpse, to create new ways of visualising the body in an environment of respect and humility in the training of health and medical students.
The seminar will also draw on the historical artefact of bone sets used in anatomy teaching, now archived in the medical school following donations from doctors and other health workers. Most of the skeletons were intentionally anonymised and many were imported into Australia before the 1980s. The seminar describes a program of conscious rehumanising of these skeletal remains through narrative and anatomical analysis, offering a meaningful counter to the collection and display policies of the past and drawing on a long standing art and science collaboration.
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Dr Alexandra Webb has more than 25 years' experience teaching anatomy into undergraduate and postgraduate medicine, allied health and science programs in Australia and the United Kingdom. She currently leads technology enhanced learning (TEL) at the Australian National University School of Medicine where she is Deputy Director. Dr Webb is an ANU Distinguished Educator and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her educational practice has been recognised with multiple institutional awards. She is a member of the Association of Medical Education in Europe TEL committee and served four years as Secretary and Newsletter Editor of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Clinical Anatomists (ANZACA). In 2016, she organised the ANZACA conference ‘Artful Anatomy’ at the ANU Medical School.
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Dr Krisztina Valter trained as a clinical ophthalmologist in Hungary before completing her PhD at the University of Sydney on retinal degeneration. She continues her vision research in the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the ANU. She has more than 20 years’ experience teaching neuroscience and anatomy and is currently Head of Anatomy Discipline and Chair of the Medical Science Theme in the ANU medical program. She completed a graduate certificate in teaching in higher education and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her teaching has been recognised by several teaching awards, including an Australian Award for University Teaching: Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in 2012. She presently serves as Vice-President of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Clinical Anatomists (ANZACA) and with Dr Alexandra Webb organised the “Artful Anatomy” ANZACA 2016 conference.
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A graduate of the Australian National University School of Art and Design, Elisa Crossing is a visual artist whose career spans over 3 decades with 10 solo exhibitions and over 30 group shows exhibiting paintings, drawings and 3D installation works locally and nationally. Elisa is an innovative and enthusiastic arts educator who develops and delivers original content through practice-led teaching. She collaborated with Alexandra Webb and Krisztina Valter to develop and deliver the integrated anatomy and art undergraduate course ‘The Exquisite Corpse’. Elisa is currently completing her PhD at the ANU.
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Stacey Ward is a lecturer in Biological Anthropology at the Australian National University, specialising in the analysis of archaeological human remains. She collaborates with Krisztina Valter on a project dedicated to the rehumanising of human skeletal remains.
Proudly supported by the Australian National University
Images | Student work from the Exquisite Corpse exhibition | Courtesy of ANU School of Medicine and Psychology