Art showcase

Living in a Shell

by Christina Baltais

“This collage is about how small one’s world becomes with chronic illness, and how the majority of it consists of rest,” explains Christina. “It also symbolizes the necessity of retreating to a quiet and safe place to do so.”

Many chronic illnesses including ME, fibromyalgia and Long Covid can cause severe fatigue and sleep issues. In the case of ME and often Long Covid, they also cause Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM): where symptoms worsen after even minor physical or cognitive activity. PEM often occurs on a delay, and it can take days, weeks, or months to recover from a PEM “crash”.

To manage all this, rest and pacing are essential. Christina writes, “Rest is a necessity and a means of investing in the quality of your life for the future. It’s very different from sleep. It’s conscious and variable throughout the day, and from day to day. It’s also very boring. It feels counterintuitive to do nothing to feel your best – but it’s in fact the most productive thing you can do to manage [ME].”

Christina Baltais (she/her) is an artist who resides in Toronto, Canada. She has lived with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME, also known as ME/CFS) for the past 18 years and draws on her personal experience of chronic illness to create collage, photography, sculpture, and makeup art. She is also involved in organizing fundraising and advocacy initiatives, such as the annual ME/CFS Art Auction and the May 12th #GoBlueForMECFS campaign. ME is a deeply stigmatized and contested illness, and she hopes her work is one ripple in the wave of change the ME community desperately needs for greater awareness, compassion, research funding, and treatments.

Did you know? You can enter to win a prize pack with artwork by Christina Baltais (Words As Medicine) in our Benefit + Awareness Month prize draw until June 1, 2023!

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Surreal collage of a large shell that has been opened. Inside its base is a light blue bed with a white woman who has black hair and red lips. She is sitting up and stretching out her arms as if she has just awoken from a deep slumber. The roof of the shell is a starry night sky with a crescent moon.
Image description: Surreal collage of a large shell that has been opened. Inside its base is a light blue bed with a white woman who has black hair and red lips. She is sitting up and stretching her arms, as if she has just awoken from a deep slumber. The roof of the shell is a starry night sky with a crescent moon.

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