Artist’s Statement: One Arrangement?

One Arrangement? challenges the viewer to reflect on the illusion of sameness in medical education. At first glance, everything appears equal: students enter through the same doors, don identical white coats, and seem to be held within one unified system—the same vase. But just beneath the surface, inequities quietly take root.One Arrangement? Box 1 - One Arrangement? They are beautiful, of course,open or closed. In full light,they ease themselves apart.A chorus line of heads aligned in tilt —dips delicately, a graciousform, untroubled by its favour. They drink deep,inheritinglight slicked gold,roots unreaching,they existwhere thirst is an old ache. But some beauty abidesby staying inside itself.For when water touchesonly one shore,and can only nourishone arrangement,there is no failurein refusing to unfold. Bound inward, she does not risebut deepens.Buds, hungry.She is the many mouthed returnthat burns her own way open. Beyond the pane,her watchers do not feelthe breaththat beads the glass,or sensehow root rememberswhat blooming costs to last. —Megan E.L. Brown, MD, PhD Conceived by the guest editor Lisa M. Meeks and brought to life through the visual artistry of Kaitlyn Ripaldi and the poetry of Dr. Megan Brown (Box 1), this collaborative piece—uniting artist, poet, and editor, each with a distinct lens on medicine and disability—offers a powerful visual metaphor for how inequity persists within systems that claim neutrality. Inside a single glass vase rest 2 sets of peonies, separated by an almost imperceptible barrier. On one side, the flowers thrive—immersed in clear water and enriched by golden nutrients that represent access, trust, and care. On the other, the blooms remain closed, their edges browned, reaching for a limited stream of water. Still beautiful, but not given the conditions to bloom. A single fallen petal beneath them marks the quiet loss of students failed by the system. The vase stands alone in a hospital corridor. Down the hall, a student walks with a cane, her head slightly bowed under the weight of systemic ableism. In her shadow: the legacy of disabled learners who came before her—and those who may follow. Every detail in this piece invites the viewer to question what is seen, what remains unseen, and what must change. What lies beneath the surface? And what will it take for every student to flourish?