Art showcase

Featured Artist: Grae Salisbury

Grae Salisbury (they/them) is a chronically ill illustrator, graphic designer, and tattoo artist who has collaborated with a number of performing arts groups including Green Thumb Theatre, KHORIKOS vocal ensemble, and Opera Mariposa. They are currently working on a long-form comic called Still Sick that explores their experience caring for their partner, who was disabled by Long COVID in March 2020 even as Grae gradually developed Long COVID and ME/CFS themself. Grae holds a Bachelor’s of Arts and Sciences from Quest University Canada, focusing on ‘Arts Based Social Change Theories and Practices’. As a disabled queer and trans person, they’re excited to pursue more projects that explore disability justice as well as queer and trans stories.

“I have always been someone who regulates and processes my experiences by making art. So when both my partner and I developed Long COVID, I did what I always do: I drew… Art is not only a community-building tool, but also functions as a “mirror”: for those who struggle to look directly at the elephant in the room, they can engage with its reflection.”

GRAE SALISBURY
‘Drawing the Elephant’, The Sick Times
Self-portrait of Grae seated on a wheeled stool, with a linework illustration of nasturtium flowers and leaves behind them. Grae is a white early-30s genderqueer person with short-cropped hair that's dark at the crown and blond at the fringe. They're wearing a blue collared shirt, grey pants, trainers, and a black N95 mask.
Self-portrait of Grae, a white genderqueer person with cropped hair seated on a wheeled stool, wearing a blue collared shirt, grey pants, trainers, and a black N95.

Connect with Grae:

Image description: A delicate blue poster illustration features a teapot pouring steaming tea into a teacup, next to a spoon, all decorated with forget-me-not flower patterns. Victorian lettering reads, Blue Sunday, over a background washed in rays of light. Around the border is a frame of twining flowers, butterflies, and spoonie essentials like compression socks, a hot water bottle, an N95 mask, a sleeping mask, headphones, a walker, and a pill bottle.

Blue Sunday 2026

As part of Opera Mariposa’s 2026 Benefit + Awareness Month, Grae created this beautiful design in honour of Blue Sunday, also known as the Tea Party for M.E. Inspired by classic blue-and-white Victorian teacup patterns, the illustration also features a wide variety of chronic illness representation and symbolism – from forget-me-nots to symbolize ME awareness, to a spoon to symbolize the spoonie community, to all sorts of chronic illness essentials woven through the floral border. (See how many you can spot!)

To join Opera Mariposa in celebrating Blue Sunday, learn more here, and save the date for Sunday, May 17th, 2026!

Love Grae’s work? Until June 1, 2026, you can enter to win merch prize packs featuring this design – and you can check out a wider variety of merch in our online store anytime. 100% of proceeds will support the ME | FM Society of BC!

SHOP NOW ENTER TO WIN

Click on each art piece below to view a full-sized version, image description, and insights from the artists.

Square image with a pink textured background. Multi-coloured gems radiate from the centre and are scattered around the image. The foreground has white bolt-sans-serif text: "We're not alone—We're just scattered." The Berlin Buyers Club logo is white on the bottom.

Not Alone, Just Scattered

Value

Your Risk is Cumulative

I Miss…

Created on the unceded territories of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples (“Law-guawn-gan” and “Was-say-nuch” or so called Victoria, BC, Canada).

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