About the artist

Rana Awdish is a pulmonary and critical care physician in Detroit, Michigan. She began painting when she was incapacitated after a near fatal illness that left her bed-bound for months. She has no formal art training, and rather enjoys the process of discovery and of being a novice, which she is not as able to be in other aspects of her life.

Her art is often an attempt to understand her feelings prior to writing. She is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir, In Shock, My journey from death to recovery and the redemptive power of hope, which chronicled her own critical illness. She has published numerous essays and opinion pieces which have often begun on the canvas. She draws inspiration from the traditions of Folk Art, Lowbrow Art, and modern figurative painting.

A sought-after public speaker, she often integrates art into her lectures, drawing off the traditions of Visual Thinking Strategies and Narrative Medicine to engage her audience. She fully believes in the ability of art to heal. 

She works primarily in oil on canvas in her home studio.