Low on Spoons, Not Identity
We hosted an art exhibition to celebrate the intersectionality of identity and chronic illness, and make uncomfortable conversations comfortable through the medium of art.
What’s this about?
Our ‘Low on Spoons, Not Identity’ exhibition showcased art that explores and celebrates identity and chronic illness. We aimed to fill a friendly community space with comfortable discussions on an uncomfortable topic, and to understand how to make living with a chronic illness easier.
The exhibits are a collection of art submitted by people who want to celebrate their identities beyond their long-term health condition(s).
We hope this will be one step in improving how chronic illnesses are perceived and celebrating the individual outside of their condition – which is often the first and only thing that others see.
It will help show that people with chronic illness, though limited in energy, are not limited in their identity and worth.
The exhibition references the Spoon Theory, a metaphor that chronically ill individuals often use to describe and pace their limited energy. The theory explains limited energy by using ‘spoons’ as a unit of energy.
Read Selan Lee’s blog on the story behind the exhibition.
What else?
We also hosted an interactive event during our exhibition week to discuss long-term health conditions and identity in more depth with journalist and organ donation advocate Belinda Otas, who introduced the discussion topic: ‘If life is a long game: how do we improve our treatment of long term health conditions?’