" This is a self-portrait" is a current and ongoing project. Since 2020, I’ve been slowly collecting copies of my medical records from various institutions, in search of x-rays, MRI scans, dental records, eye scans, etc. any type of visual data of my body.
I started expecting chronic pain very young, and so I had my first MRI scan of my back when I was around 8. Throughout the years, I went to many different doctors, had many x-rays taken, more MRI's, went to physical therapy... and I was still in pain. It wasn't until 15+ years later that I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome as an adult; explaining my joint issues and chronic pain. As thankful as I am to finally have a diagnosis, I still have a lot of frustration and sadness. A big part of my childhood and young adult years was this ongoing search for what was causing me all my pain, and a lot of scans were just deemed inconclusive. This series are self portraits, and they’re also intrinsically linked to the topics of having an ‘invisible illness’, chronic pain, and frustration around medical care (or lack of).
I’m excited to experiment with this series by distorting the visual data from my x-rays via imaging software.
