Art showcase

Colourful illustration of a Black woman with pink hair who is curled up, her head in her arms, with cracks spreading over her entire body including her aqua and black clothes. She is sitting on a pink blanket against a purple background, surrounded by stars. Black text surrounds her reading, Yes, I'm in pain all of the time.
Image description: Colourful illustration of a Black woman with pink hair who is curled up, her head in her arms, cracks spreading over her entire body including her aqua and black clothes. She sits on a pink blanket against a purple background, surrounded by stars. Bold black text around her reads, Yes, I’m in pain all of the time.

Yes, I’m in pain all of the time.

by Rana

In this piece, Rana captures the burning, widespread pain that characterizes fibromyalgia. “When it doesn’t look like I’m in pain, I am,” she says. “Everywhere, all the time. With invisible disabilities, most people would never know unless we tell them. Even then some people still don’t believe us. We hide our pain to make others comfortable or just to get through the day.”

Rana’s artwork visibilizes the pain that she and so many others experience. “We shouldn’t have to live like this, but we don’t have any other choice”, she says. “So the least that you can do is believe us.”

Rana (she/her) is a self-taught Black disabled artist living in upstate New York. She creates art inspired by her journey with chronic illness, self love, and mental health. Rana lives with fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, chronic pain syndrome, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and chronic gastritis, and has been creating digital art since 2019 when she became disabled. She makes her living as an artist offering digital art commissions for portraits, logos, music covers and more, in addition to selling her designs as stickers and teaching classes on using Procreate. She is excited to join Opera Mariposa in raising awareness for fibromyalgia and other chronic illnesses!


Love Rana’s work? Until June 1, 2024, you can enter to win stickers featuring her artwork (alongside lots of other amazing prizes), all in support of the ME | FM Society of BC!

ENTER TO WIN
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