Health studies students consider the relevance of Georg Grosz’s depictions of social inequalities in Weimar Germany to the contemporary Canadian scene

The arts and humanities can direct attention to the health-threatening effects of adverse living and working conditions and the political and economic systems that spawn them. In pursuit of this goal, we presented 15 undergraduate health studies students and alumni with drawings by artist Georg Grosz that depicted the profound social inequalities of Weimar-era Germany and then had them explore the relevance of these drawings to the present-day Canadian scene. Students found the eight drawings which depicted topics of (1) Income and Wealth Inequality, Poverty and Food Insecurity ; (2) Capitalism ; (3) The Nature of Charity ; and (4) Responses to the Polycrisis engaging and relevant, reporting discussion of these drawings reinforced their learning and were consistent with their own lived experiences. Several themes from the discussions emerged, such as Class Relations , Adverse Health Effects of Problematic Living and Working Conditions , the Nature of Charity and Barriers to Progress, which showed remarkable similarity with what is known about Grosz’s motivations for these drawings. Regarding their potential for promoting health equity, students believed engaging with Grosz’s drawings could provide means for mobilising healthcare and public health students and workers, as well as the public, to demand that governing authorities respond to these issues.