Fixed

A companion piece to “Caught,” this painting symbolizes the experience of immobility and entrapment typical of chronic illness. There are many ways that chronic illness can immobilize the body and limit one’s freedom and activity, affixing one in a particular place like a butterfly preserved. More than that, having a chronic illness means that one’s body is constantly on display for examination, poked and prodded, and medically taxonomized. The body is fixed in the gaze of the medical establishment. And ironically, the desire to fix others or fix oneself of a chronic illness can result in being held captive to ineffective treatment programs, pinned down by unrealistic hopes, or immobilized by guilt for “not getting better” as anticipated.