SCHOLASTIC ART & WRITING FLAUNT IT AWARD FINALIST

In my painting, “Chronic Illness”, I explore my feelings regarding my multiple autoimmune diseases, diseases that bring me incurable and immense suffering, but will never kill me. From a young age, around eight-years-old, I’ve endured endless drugs and injections, as well as doctor’s appointments. Living with chronic illnesses is like walking my own path in my own world. No matter how close, my friends and family do not experience the physical pain and mental anguish every waking day that I do, and it’s impossible to explain it to them. Growing up, I felt judged and insecure about physical symptoms of my illnesses, and I’m haunted by my health issues. In my painting, I take a retrospective look at how despitebeing young and innocent, I meet the realities of an ugly world and the most painful parts of living. Iportray myself in a world different from that the people around me live in. I created this painting because I want to paint and show my reality in the form of visual art, because words could never fully describe my state of mind and my health experiences. I chose to make this piece surreal and beautiful, but at the sametime, convey the dark reality of my world to viewers. I also aimed to convey acceptance of this struggle from a young age. This is a something I’ll have to live for forever, whether I like it or not. With time, I have accepted that, taking the steps to face it in creating an artistic rendering of my health demons.