This watercolour depicts a doctor in full PPE, staring directly out at the viewer. Reflected in the doctor’s goggles is the image of a ventilated patient lying in a hospital bed—positioning the viewer as if they themselves are the patient. Below, shadowy figures represent a team of healthcare workers monitoring the situation remotely via cameras mounted on the goggles. They are making critical decisions from another room, physically removed from the bedside.

During the pandemic, I was a medical student redeployed to work on the COVID wards. One of my tasks involved putting on full PPE to help arrange video calls between critically ill, intubated patients and their families—who were unable to visit due to strict restrictions. The wards were overwhelming: rows of ventilated patients, the constant hum of machines, and a palpable sense of fear and grief.

What stayed with me most was how the PPE stripped away any visible humanity. Behind masks and gowns, healthcare workers became anonymous, faceless—intensifying the loneliness and disconnection patients already felt. That haunting sense of isolation is something I tried to capture in this painting.