Accommodations

People often think of getting sick as a temporary event. You get sick, then you recover, or you’re very unlucky then you die. Even though most of our medical infrastructure is set up to deal with acute illness, it isn’t always the case that illness is temporary. A stay in the hospital, being signed off from work, all assume that there will be a time of recovery, and then you’ll be able to carry on as normal. Sometimes, people get sick and never recover. We get stuck in a system that assumes you will not linger.

Once stuck, navigating life becomes challenging in new ways. Systems that work for acute illness aren’t applicable to constantly being ill. It’s difficult to work around them, especially with the limited energy of being chronically ill. Grief and frustration become companions, but with time, acceptance and joy help provide shelter.

“Accommodations” visually presents the idea of creating a home in a space that is intended to be passed through. My paintings use space and atmosphere to convey these ideas.

This series is a work in progress.