Making art from chronic illness

Many chronically ill individuals, including myself, have navigated the hard journey of identity loss and self-discovery.

It is incredibly taxing to feel yourself defined solely by your condition and depressing to realise how much of your identity in society is based on good physical health and the ability to pursue activities unburdened by exhaustion.

Such identity issues are compounded in under-represented populations, such as the LGBTQ+ community and ethnic minorities – who often cannot find representations in media and healthcare of their situations.

Giving voice to our struggles

As a result, many chronically ill people use creative media to voice our struggles and develop communities that support and enable open discussion about our lives and our conditions.

Youtubers such as Jessica Kellgren-Fozard and Hannah Witton use the video-sharing platform to promote discussions on sex and LGBTQ+ topics as well as their health conditions. Similarly, @thechronicallyhonest posts illustrations of life with chronic illness on Instagram.

These creative media enable people who are often limited in their physical abilities to express themselves outside traditional conventions.

Moreover, art can offer insights into patients’ conditions, often overlooked by healthcare professionals using standard health assessments.

Spoonful of energy

My experience of chronic illness and how art can represent this is the driving force behind my project to develop an art exhibition to showcase intersectionality in chronic illness.

The ‘Low on Spoons, Not Identity’ exhibition will take place in London in May, featuring art submitted by people who want to celebrate their identities beyond their long-term health condition(s).

Why ‘spoons’? I wanted this exhibition to reference the Spoon Theory, a metaphor chronically ill individuals often use to explain and self-pace their limited energy.

The theory explains limited energy by using ‘spoons’ as a unit of energy. Any task, from getting out of bed to commuting to work, uses up your ‘spoons’, meaning individuals must plan their days in advance and be mindful of their limited number of ‘spoons’ to stop them from running out of energy.

Those with chronic illnesses are not afforded the luxury of unlimited ‘spoons’ and cannot simply regain spoons by taking a short nap or break.

I hope the exhibition will be a safe and welcoming environment enabling open discussion about intersectionality and the multiple dimensions of life with a chronic illness.

My aim is for chronically ill people to feel represented and their voices heard – not only in the healthcare sector, but by members of the public who may have a limited understanding of the lives of those who live with chronic illness.

Additionally, the exhibition will highlight the need for more creative methods in healthcare assessment and open discussion with patients on intersectionality in their lives and conditions by healthcare professionals. I look forward to seeing you there!