Witnessing Chronic Illness

In this series, I focus on the difficulty of living with a complex and largely invisible chronic illness, as I navigate medical systems and social stigmas and try to communicate the vulnerability, loss, anger, and grief that are part of living with an anomalous and disabled body. 

As I’ve explored the questions—“How do I communicate this?” and “How do I share this experience with others?”—I’ve moved through a range of styles from symbolic realism to abstract expressionism to find visual images that may help me to make sense of my illness for myself and for others. Distinct lines and shapes have played a key role in many of the paintings, as I’ve sought to express the loss of order and sense of identity I have experienced. Blurring, layering, or obscuring in the painting process have also been key in exploring and expressing feelings of loss and limitation. 

While some of the paintings have been methodically planned to express one particular aspect of my illness, other paintings focus entirely on process and experiment, letting the body “speak” for itself, as it were, through the work.