Mimesis 3: Portraits of a Postmodern Illness

In my photographic exploration of the invisible illness ME the portraits of ME sufferers with their eyes closed offer a metaphorical representation of their invisible illness and lives lived in the shadow of alienation, social exclusion, controversy and loss of identity.

If the eye is a mirror in which the other meets her own reflection, then by photographing my subjects with eyes closed I invite the viewer to invest the portraits with their own eyes, and thus see through the eyes of the ME sufferer. By closing their eyes, they ask the viewer to open theirs.

The hands also possess a power to tell stories or reveal hidden messages. Exploring further ways to render the invisible visible and, based on responses to the question: Is there a book, poem, film or work of art that best describes your experience of life with ME? the resulting surreal images invite the viewer to decipher the answers and serve as an alternative method by which to enter the hidden world of the ME sufferer.