Process

Living with ME/CFS means every activity carries a cost.

Creating has become an exercise in pacing, adaptation and listening carefully to the body’s signals. Traditional painting and screen-printing required more energy than was available, so Lucinda shifted to digital drawing on an iPad and textile techniques that could be undertaken while resting.

Scale changed. Materials changed. Expectations changed.

Working small became practical. Making from the couch became possible. Some days offered enough capacity to create. Other days required complete rest.

Rather than resisting these changes, Lucinda has learned to work with them.

As she reflects: “The type of art you make when you’re chronically ill has to be modified.”

Creativity becomes not simply expression, but negotiation and finding the right balance between making and preserving the energy required for daily life.

View Lucinda’s work online >