Patience (creation)

Patience was born out of a news item I heard on the radio about medical jargon- how the language was confusing and alienating to many. This theme we combined with an examination of ill health- how does it feel to loose your health- what happens to your body, your mind, your spirit? Our plan was to examine different categories- heart attack, stroke, cancer, diabetes... working with older hospital patients, staff and visitors, to create an insider’s guide to illness using poetic language and artworks.

...hospital

a huge mountain between my

heart and tongue'..

every project we have worked on, has taken us in unexpected directions, we anticipated the poems and artworks created by patients to talk about symptoms, and the physicality of the problem. However time and time again, what is examined is the emotional response to change. How do you get your head around what's happening to your body? How do you get your mind and body aligned?

‘what the hell’s happened to me?’

that rush towards the remember...

How do you put together a book that truly reflects the patients experience and staffs insights?

...the problem with language altogether

is the idea that language can describe perfectly

it’s merely pointing at some idea

just as blindness means absence of light...

the Jargon

Phil and I spent last Thursday looking at the material we have and where the gaps are. We discussed using the Kubler-Ross model 'stages of grief' (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance) as a framework for our chapters, but this feels to limiting- there are more emotive states, ways to survive and themes that re-occur: pain, despair, hope, humour, confusion, patience, spirit, change, love...

There's lots of work to do, we want to honor the work that has been produced by some really remarkable people, there are gaps still to be filled, (we want to work with carers/ to discuss in more depth faith and how that impacts peoples health battles/ to meet people who have survived cancer/and heart attacks...)

cut a thistle in may

the dancing season has started

fabulous is the word for it