Artist Statement
The Geography of Faces takes its title from the idea that a face, seen across decades, becomes a kind of landscape—something you learn to read not at a glance but through accumulated return visits. For Dr. Vasquez, an older physician who has seen so much, her patients' faces are the territory she has spent a lifetime learning to navigate.
The patients are chosen to represent different dimensions of that longevity. They show affection built on years of small battles, continuity across a family, autonomy that is respected. Together, these patients make the case that primary care is less about problems solved and more about relationships sustained. Inspired by what older physicians have taught me, the most important things in medicine get passed forward quietly, in hallways, between patients, and between generations of physicians.
The ordinary gestures are the story's real subject. A primary care physician sees patients across the whole ordinary length of a life, present for everything, and almost none of it makes the chart. That gap between what is witnessed and what is recorded is what I'm trying to comment on. Thanks for reading :)
Recommended Citation
Abraham, Faith
(2026)
"The Geography of Faces,"
be Still: Vol. 11, Article 5.
Available at:
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/bestill/vol11/iss1/5
Included in
Community Health Commons, Family Medicine Commons, Fiction Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Geriatrics Commons, Medical Humanities Commons, Photography Commons, Primary Care Commons
About the Artist
Before Faith Abraham is a medical student, she is a daughter and a sister, a musician, an overenthusiastic air fryer owner, and someone deeply obsessed with her dog. She has attempted pottery (unsuccessfully), is trying to keep her indoor plants alive, loves to cook (especially when she feels brave enough to cook for others) and will always accept a good book recommendation. She is also extremely bad at pickleball.