I joined Centrepieces in May 2023 and I am in my mid 30’s. I am a keen amateur mixed media miniature sculptor and painter. I have a need to get lost in my own fantasy world and dream up new weird and wonderful characters of all shapes and sizes, and fleshing out their back stories. I try to find ways to breathe life into my work, adding in all those little quirks, as well as taking great delight in picking out colours and watching them dry. I take a lot of inspiration from the natural world.
At age 11 my physical health declined suddenly and I was diagnosed with a very poorly understood condition that, for a long time, was treated, wrongly, as a psychological illness due to now discredited research.
The impact of this research contributes to harm and neglect which goes on to this day and represents one of the greatest untold scandals in medical history. This is not helped by the authors of the research having now been promoted to the highest echelons with great influence over media and government. The illness has undergone many name changes over the years, Post Viral Fatigue, Yuppie Flu, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and Myalgic Encephalitis (ME), and has been a regular feature of newspaper opinion pieces which have been belittling..
I personally suffered a lot of victim blaming, gaslighting, and neglect by medical professionals and had long periods of no support for years. Apart from my family I was very isolated despite all my efforts. I still get many flashbacks to this time and it has left me dealing with depression, anxiety, as well as self harm and suicidal thoughts.
My health is now much better understood as a complex neurological condition, Dysautonomia, a disorder of the bodies autonomic function. Treatment is still in its infancy and so I continue to suffer from strong symptoms that effect my mind and body. It is difficult to define myself as separate from my health problems as the very nature of my health is that is affects every aspect of my life.
I am hoping to learn more about being an artist and to use my art to express my experiences so others can learn and gain a better understanding of invisible illnesses.