Anthony Baker

My Father's Final Surgery | Pencil 2024

As a medical illustrator, I am often asked to draw surgical techniques.

I draw hands and surgical instruments interacting with anatomy to repair this or remove that. I’m drawing people—or some part of a person—but I’m not thinking about drawing a real person. I’m drawing the human form, but without a sense of humanity.

My father recently lost a years-long battle with cancer. Seeing his scar, I recalled times I had illustrated surgeries like the one he endured. And I realized it’s easy to forget that the images I contribute to medical literature are about people. Drawing this image is a step toward trying to imbue my medical illustration work with a sense the subject’s humanity.

Anthony is a staff member at the Health Sciences Library