On an airplane in December of 2023, this series of Ink and graphite illustrations - on lined notebook and blank sketch paper - started as an internal need to scratch and record the chronic and intense aches and pains I have come to understand and get to know, stemming from my stem - my spine.

Body Aches…

A small snap in a lower vertebra, left unattended from a young age, has seized and pulls on the muscles and the nerves down to my knees and toes, and up to the base of my skull.

Bloating, head-fog, general aches, and more are frequent symptoms. They certainly place a large pressure on my physical and emotional breath.

Early on in my relationship to this chronic condition, it was diagnosed as arthritis, with slightly varying doctoral opinions. Since then, I have had more imaging and tests, labels and names, people to talk to and lobbies to sit in.

Sometimes I have flare ups, or an overlying fatigue, occasionally needing a walking stick. Other days are better, and I can move freely.

This relationship is ongoing for me, and will continue to be so, thus it will ever evolve, as I continue to seek and develop a life of treatment.