ELISSA BAKER

Creature in the Dark, 2022

coloured pencil on paper

29.2 x 41.5

John Curtin College of the Arts

This artwork shares insight into my experience of living with CFS/ME. While my chronic illness is seemingly invisible, I have depicted a sleeping figure to represent the most visible of my symptoms, which is enduring and intense fatigue in response to regular activities. The lone figure depicts the isolation I have experienced as my ability to live a “normal” life has been completely eroded. The carrion birds hidden in darkness symbolise how pushing myself for too long can consume my ability to both physically and neurologically function, much like how scavengers wait patiently for the dead so they can feast.