[This is my artist’s statement that was distributed as a zine for my Care Before Profit: A Diabetic Perspective on Healthcare Under Capitalism photography installation on Friday, Nov. 01, 2024 / 5-8 PM]
STATEMENT.
The installation that surrounds you now is an objection and a direct response to the status quo of for-profit so-called-healthcare. Through the production of the work, I have created agency and meaning for myself and, I hope, for others living with chronic illness. In many ways, the art itself is a reflection of what it is like to live with diabetes: a practice in accepting and embracing imperfect results in a complex and (at times) unpredictable process. Look closely and you may see what I mean. As you take it in, I encourage you to consider: what does it feel like to live in an economic system that values profits more than one’s own life, and in a culture that keeps that system thriving?
WHAT’S WITH THE DIABETIC TEST STRIP SIGNS?
1 in 4 people with diabetes ration insulin.
Those, like myself, whose lives are dependent on medical technology, are forced into the losing end of a consumer-producer relationship wherein the only way to survive—to literally stay alive—is to constantly pay the devastatingly high price of so-called-healthcare. Even those with health insurance pay high prices, often to the end of rationing insulin and supplies to a catastrophic effect: diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), coma, or death. The test strip signs are representative of the greater problem of runaway profiteering while patients continue to suffer.
(I HATE) DIABETES AWARENESS MONTH.
Every November, I see the for-profit medical system use the month as a public relations opportunity in an attempt to distract from the fact that the capitalist model actually causes harm to the patients that they claim to serve. Meanwhile, medical non-profits resort to calling on burnt out, cash-strapped patients to fund their organizations and to advocate for change—all the while accepting funding from, and remaining in the pocket of, big pharma.
NATURE, CYANOTYPE, AND HEALING.
I often find myself retreating into nature in an attempt to calm my psyche, to achieve respite, and to heal. The process of making photos using film, including developing it at home, has contributed to my health and well-being in incalculable ways. Consider the images of nature and the medical materials onto which the images are printed. Engaging with and immersing myself with the natural world softens the suffering that I experience as I move through my life with multiple chronic health conditions.
Cyanotype is one of the first photographic processes discovered (1842). It is a slow-reacting, economical, and environmentally friendly photographic printing formulation that is sensitive to UVA radiation. As such, I printed all of these images using only natural sunlight at various times of the day, in three different seasons, and under both clear and cloudy skies. The process produces a monochrome, blue colored print reminiscent of the blue that signifies none other than type 1 diabetes, diabetes awareness month, and world diabetes day (November 14th). Naturally, cyanotype is a fitting process for this photographic installation.
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