A large sheet of white cotton-rag paper floats off the wall in the centre of the room. A vibrant pinkish-purple hue emanates from behind an expansive textile constructed of etched and intricately cut flame orange tissue paper. The surface of the cloth is host to so many wrinkles and folds that, at times, it resembles freshly tilled earth. Playful loop-de-loops of needlework surround the centre of the fabric, like twisting tendrils stretching towards the warmth of the sun. Flowers joyfully bloom on each corner, a garden of feminized labour so tenderly cared for and nurtured. ‘big sick energy’ glows triumphantly at the centre of the linen, the seeds of crip imagination resting in the fertile soil. The scent of fresh, damp earth weighs heavy in the air.
This work is a joyful love letter to Johanna Hedva’s Sick Woman Theory. dream beyond the wounds “is for those who are faced with their vulnerability and unbearable fragility, every day, and so have to fight for their experience to be not only honoured, but first made visible.” Johanna Hedva, “Sick Woman Theory,” Topical Cream (website), April 1, 2022, https://topicalcream.org/features/sick-woman-theory/.