SICK AF is a group exhibition touring around Western Australia with Art on the Move.​
​
My new works for SICK AF reflect the frustration I feel as a high-risk person during a pandemic. Last year a mere cold disabled me. A covid infection could leave me permanently bedbound, taking away my independence.
In this dystopian ‘New Normal,’ where healthcare workers often refuse to mask and people avoid testing, I feel isolated and abandoned.
If you care about disabled people, please mask in the spaces we are forced to share. Advocate for clean air in schools so that future generations face a lower risk of becoming disabled like me. Support people with Long Covid and ME/CFS – we are doing it tough.
Staying upright in the New Normal
embroidery thread on digitally printed fabric
This stitched still life depicts some of the things that are keeping me stable in a society keen to pretend it's 2019.
One-way masking isn’t foolproof so it's hard for high risk people to protect themselves.
To reduce my risk, I wear a mask, use nasal spray and mouthwash, monitor the air quality in my classrooms and regularly test for covid in case I need antivirals. I often have flu-like symptoms when I've overdone it. I keep electrolytes on hand to manage my dysautonomia. With one-way masking, every outing is a roll of the dice or the chance of a fortune cookie…
One of millions missing
oil, enamel and acrylic on cradled wood panel
2024 finds me disabled and exhausted with crippling fatigue from ME/CFS. I used to be bright and extroverted, with a colourful wardrobe, home, and art & design practice. Now, I’m fading. I’m often too fatigued to lift my head; putting on my glasses to read or paint is often beyond me. I monitor my heart rate and steps on my watch, attempting to exert myself as little as possible because any exertion can make me more unwell for days. The hashtag 'millions missing' underscores the invisibility of ME/CFS—we are housebound and missing from life as we knew it.
.jpg)
ME/CFS back in bed
embroidery thread on linen
This little pun (from the birthplace of AC/DC) made me laugh, but I was thinking about the
25% of people with severe ME/CFS when I embroidered this.
Severe ME has a massive range of severity from “only” housebound, to patients who are bedbound with severe symptoms requiring tube feeding and IV hydration.
Very Severe ME patients are as sick as late-stage AIDS patients but can live like this for years or decades in a state often referred to as 'Living Death'.
Severe ME patients suffer medical neglect due to their inability to access telehealth or home visits from doctors. There is no cure and research is underfunded.
Housebound
oil and enamel on cradled wood panel
oil and enamel on cradled wood panel
Day and night chez Looch
oil and enamel on board, digitally printed fabric
Day and night chez Looch
Day and night chez Looch
ME/CFS back in bed T-shirt
hand screen-printed tee.
Let me know if you want one :)
