What is the relationship between illness and making? Does being one of the ‘unwell’, a ‘refusenik’, a ‘quiet-quitter’ engender creative processes?

 

Many artists have gained agency over their medical conditions to reimagine ‘the parameters of bodily trauma, reconciling trauma with recovery’[1]. Sickness connects practices across decades, genres, and lifetimes, while recent cultural discourse has examined chronic illness to challenge conventional representations and celebrate health diversity [2]. Artists were invited to submit substantial bodies of work for a project that explores these or connected themes. With the intention of developing long term conversations between curators and exhibitors, we have extended this aspect by inviting text based contributions with an aim to produce an ambitious online catalogue, bringing together the exhibitor's words and work.