What happens when a work of art about the body and identity meets the latest research on puberty blockers? In this talk, Louise Frisén from Karolinska Institutet takes Elisabeth Ohlson’s The Doubter as her starting point and deepens the discussion on how treatment may affect young people.
During the evening, Louise Frisén presents the current state of research on puberty blockers for adolescents. What do we know about the effects on development? What risks and uncertainties remain? How does autism spectrum condition intersect with assessment and care? And why is multidisciplinary evaluation essential?
With The Doubter as a visual and conceptual backdrop, the conversation explores the body, identity, and the responsibilities of healthcare. Here, medical research and artistic interpretation meet in a shared inquiry into the limits of knowledge.
Date: Thursday, March 5
Time: 5:00–6:00 PM
Location: The Cell
Language: Swedish
Admission: Free of charge, no pre-registration required
Researchers Show Art is a recurring program where researchers from Karolinska Institutet engage with contemporary art and offer new perspectives on human behavior through artistic expression.
Louise Frisén is an Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience and a senior consultant at the Gender Identity and Gender Dysphoria Clinic (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), Stockholm. She is a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry.
Her research focuses on gender dysphoria in young people, psychiatric comorbidity, and how healthcare systems are organized to ensure careful assessment and treatment.
Elisabeth Ohlson worked at the intersection of documentary and staged photography, with a strong commitment to human rights and questions of identity.
The photograph Tvivlaren (2020), created for the exhibition id:TRANS, is a reinterpretation of Caravaggio painting The Incredulity of Saint Thomas. In Ohlson’s version, we encounter a trans person bearing scars from gender-affirming surgery. The work directs attention toward society’s assumptions about gender, the body, and dignity — and asks who has the authority to define the truth of a human life.
This event is part of the series Scientist Shows Art and takes place within the exhibition You in Me, You, We – Exploring Human Behaviour.
Date: 5 March
Time: 17:00–18:00
Venue: The Cell, Hagaplan 4
