This gory pill art project, The Wound Will Not Heal, started with this mask I made at a Halloween Open Hacks at Technocopia. Jessica Sadlier suggested doing white tissue papier-mache over a painted underlayer for a creepy, realistic skin look.

“Mask”, October 2022

That mask got me thinking about other ways to use this skin effect, and that got me pretty quickly to The Wound Will Not Heal. I had a lot of pent-up angst about chronic illness that was ready to come out. Some people have told me this piece upset them, and others that it made them feel seen.

Paper clay, spackle, acrylic paint, PVA glue, varnish, expired medication, and Unicorn Milk pearlescent topcoat on canvas

I’m sick and disabled. Every day I take pills. At my worst I was throwing back fifteen a day. I get so fed up I could scream. I am filled to bursting with anti-inflammatories and beta blockers and pain meds and antidepressants and vitamins, filled until I could tear open. This relief sculpture did not bring me ease, but did let me reveal for a moment what I normally hold back.

Appeared in The Twentieth ArtsWorcester Biennial and won the Youth Committee Honorable Mention

See more of my art.

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