I have been living with Type 1 diabetes since the age of nine and through my practice, am investigating the ways in which the condition has affected my body both mentally and physically. I am interested in the intersections between the life-sustaining therapies used to manage diabetes, and the damaging effects they have on the body. Based off my fourteen-year experience with the condition, my work aims to portray the accumulative and enduring effects of chronic illness management. I do not aim to dramatize or victimize life with an illness such as mine, rather I hope to call attention to how it has shaped my relationship and experience with my body, and what life might look like through the lens of chronic illness, presently onto the future.

Focusing on these ideas, the visual language and processes I am exploring manifest as translations of the actions and treatments that have become ingrained into my daily routine. As my illness requires vigilant engagement with the inner and outer workings of my body, I aim to create forms with corporeal qualities to create a visceral experience which mimics that which I have with my body daily. In considering both the inner and outer spaces of the glass, I can investigate these issues through repeated mark-making on the surface, using colour to evoke a sense of the body and of blood, and piercing and distorting the surface, transgressing the boundaries between “skin” and “body.” The two hot and cold states in which glass exists allow me to capture and emphasize the effects that a condition like Type 1 diabetes has on an individual, making visible what is not always obvious.

Expanding into multi-media and performance, my current work explores the incorporation of my body into the work through video, sound, and the use of personal domestic items alongside the glass. Keeping in mind the physical qualities of the glass medium and the human body, I continue to explore the parallels and juxtapositions that exist in the space where they come together to highlight their simultaneous strength and fragility.