“It kind of sounds like a more intense experience than it actually is,” he says. “When you come out of the anesthetic, you’ll have a headache maybe for a day, but then you’re just sitting in bed with these wires coming out of your head and this machine, for seven days, with not much going on.”

Vidler is not typically the subject of his own photographs; in fact, this was his first self-portrait. After a few days of sitting in bed with nothing much to do—and looking “interesting,” as he puts it—he got the idea to document it. “I just thought, well, it’s an unusual selfie, I’ll see how that looks,“ Vidler says. A friend brought in Vidler’s camera and tripod, which he operated using a smartphone app.

Vidler is not typically the subject of his own photographs; in fact, this was his first self-portrait. After a few days of sitting in bed with nothing much to do—and looking “interesting,” as he puts it—he got the idea to document it. “I just thought, Well, it’s an unusual selfie, I’ll see how that looks,“ Vidler says. A friend brought in Vidler’s camera and tripod, which he operated using a smartphone app.

The image exhibits the typical hallmarks of classic portraiture. Vidler sits against a white wall, turned at an angle, with natural light spilling softly in and filling in details. Its rendering and composition resemble that of a painting. Combined with the conspicuous electronics and bandages, it makes for a kind of cyborg Vermeer. “I was showing the picture to people, and a friend of mine said, ‘It’s Van Gogh with the bandaged ear,’” says Vidler, noting that the connection is more than just aesthetic. “Van Gogh also had epilepsy.”

Following the stereo-EEG, Vidler received surgery, which has been largely effective in reducing his symptoms. Though he is happy with the photograph, he was reluctant at first to make it public, not only because it captured a personal and vulnerable moment, but also because it might have future implications for Vidler’s work. “If you have a neurological illness, you don’t necessarily want everyone to know,” he says. The publicity from Wellcome has helped shift his opinion. “It’s made an uncommon medical condition a little bit more seen.”