Art communicates faster and more completely than any other realm of human endeavor. It has the ability to prompt the recognition of truths you were not completely aware of. That’s certainly what the 2015 ME Artists Showcase at M.E. Again did for me.
Gwen Duda has both fibromyalgia and ME/CFS. She created the M.E. Again website
Created by Gwen Duda, a professional Canadian artist diagnosed with both chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia at the age of 35, M.E. Again is dedicated to displaying the artwork, stories and experiences of people with ME/CFS and FM.
Gwen notes that illness perspectives are rarely seen in the mainstream art world (besides Frieda Kahlo who?), but the artistic expression of illness with its pain, grittiness, hope and despair is on full display on her site.
In the 2015 Showcase Gwen featured the works of 15 ME/CFS/FM artists. Interviews with each artist tell their personal ME/CFS/FM stories and unlock the experiences driving their art. Their stories of loss and their struggles to accept their limits of their new world will be familiar to all. Many use art – when they have the energy to create it – as a place of refuge.
Check out a few selections from the Showcase below..
For as long as I can remember, art has been pulsating through my core. I now wait tirelessly for moments throughout the days where I am well enough to make art. I paint in drips of time — five minutes, sometimes twenty — an hour feels like a gift… I hope to spotlight CFS/ME, Lyme disease, MSIDS and other invisible illnesses and grow awareness, bringing forth a universal understanding and compassion for those affected. Erin Fromkes
Erin Fromkes
Art feeds my soul, keeps me sane, and provides me with a life purpose and incentive to get out of bed each day. Due to my chronic hair to toes pain, crippling fatigue, soul sucking depression and the impact all this has on my ability to think clearly, I have had to develop a very fluid way of being artistic. Heather Clark
Heather Clark
After I had my second baby, I was never the same… I was dizzy, sleep deprived, fatigued and in pain almost everyday but I kept going, juggling career and motherhood. Then in the first quarter of 2013 my symptoms increased and worsened. After undergoing about eighteen tests/procedures and seeing five different specialists I was finally diagnosed in May of 2014 with Fibromyalgia at the age of forty. Nathalie Lopez
Unrested by Nathalie Lopez
You can find M.E. Again and the 2015 Artist Showcase here. I hope you will visit M.E. Again. I hope each person that does so finds art that resonates with and opens up their own experiences with illness and health.
Submissions for the next Showcase will probably begin in September. M.E. Again hopes to expand to include more types of art next year.
Health Rising’s ME/CFS and FM Artist Section
Health Rising now has an ME/CFS and FM artist section that provides you the opportunity download your ME/CFS/FM artwork there. Lissa Nilsson – one of the 15 artists highlighted in the Showcase – is the first artist to feature her work there.
Art took a backseat for decades – there was never time or energy left with my career, which required extensive travel. Now that I am ill, art has given me purpose again. Although my energy is limited, I feel as if the creative process removes me from my illness for a blissful respite on the days I can make it out to my studio.
CFIDS Planet by Lissa Nilsson
If you’re an artist with ME/CFS/FM please consider adding examples of your work in our Artists section.
Wow. Such moving and beautiful artwork. I can relate as my creative pursuits are part of my sanity and healing.
I’ve heard other artists – my father for example – say that. I guess it’s about getting lost in your art….
It’s a whole different side of ME/CFS.
The Artwork touches my soul—BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL.
Heather Clark is fabulous!!!! I am Not as good as the others -but may consider a picture.
THEY DO GET IT!!!!!!!
Thank all of you.
Carole
I hope their work inspires yours and you’ll contribute your work. 🙂
Thank You Carole for your wonderful comment.
And thank you Cort and Gwen.
This is the first time I’ve come forward publicly as an artist with FM/CFS. I’ve always kept that information off my public profiles.
This has given me the courage to “come out” so to speak. lol
And Carole There is NO SUCH THING AS Not as Good as the others!”
Some of us may have more experience with the tools we use but If creating something, anything gives you any joy and comfort, or can take you out of your suffering for even a little while then it is GREAT!!!!!
Please share.
Loved your work Heather – very powerful! Good luck with everything 🙂
Freda Khalo who? She was a famous Mexican artist married to Diego Rivera.
Freda had polio since age 6 and was in a horrific bus accident where a handrail impaled her hip to hip. She lived in intense pain all her life. Tried several treatments and surgeries with no relief. Remarkable artist. Intense, fiery woman.
Yes, I read a biography of her – and saw the movie and I actually visited her museum while I was in Mexico. What a story she had. My gosh… I meant to mean who besides Freda Kahlo has done that.
Well I was going to say “really Cort, I know you must know who Freda Khalo is, you’re an educated man!”
Facetiousness doesn’t come across in print all the time. I know I’ve said a few things in my texts to my kids that were taken wrong. And I read your comment wrong.
I can get lost in art of various descriptions and it makes me feel good. Time goes by and I don’t feel the pain or think about my dreadfully boring day. Sometimes though I don’t pay attention to how long I’m doing an activity and I need to work on that.
Everyone can be an artist in some way. No talent needed, just an expression of yourself and how you feel inside. Great therapy.
The art work posted is phenomenal. Thanks Cort for this different view on expressing our feelings.
Cort,
I clicked on the link above “artists section” but the page says “error”. Hoping you can fix that please.
Huh! If you click on this link – http://www.cortjohnson.org/forums/media/albums/me-cfs-and-fm-art.1/ – can you get there?
Got it, I had to re log-in. If that makes sense. Thanks
Just Beautiful all of them. What a great idea.
They really do all get it!!!!!!!
Carole
Wow, what a neat site! Sending to all my artist friends. Thanks Cort!
Cort,
When I used the link provided it said I do not have permission to view media. I would love to see the art, what do I need to do?
Rita
Sorry about that Rita – there may have been a problem with the permissions. Can you see if you can access it now?
1) tried to access website and go a “you do not have permission to access album”
2) wish i’d know about the call for artists
3) i am both an artist and writer/performer living with CFS/ME/Fibro for 30 years…i was young when i was diagnosed
4) would love to connect with others in Toronto area
Sorry Li – another person had that problem and we don’t know why. We’re trying to figure out what’s going on and when we get you in I hope you’ll consider posting your work there.
Be sure to answer the new call for submissions probably in Sept at M.E. Again. 🙂
thanks…will keep the eyes open for it 😉