All of us face conditions that impede the creation and display of our best selves. I deal with chronic arthritis pain, but you may have a different physical or mental health ailment. Maybe your chronic condition is a thorny relationship that will never improve or an unsatisfying career. The quilt of universal experience is pieced from an infinite variety of conditions, each as unique as the person who lives with it.

Whatever our specific symptoms, each of us adopt coping mechanisms in attempt to counteract those chronic conditions and lessen their impact on our lives. Sometimes our adaptations are beautiful, enveloping the condition to transform it and us. Other modifications are not effective—worse, they can become a horror show that damages ourselves and our loved ones. Occasionally, it's hard for outsiders to tell the difference between the beautiful and the grotesque.

When I work in my studio, it takes my mind off my chronic pain. But it's a delicate dance. Many of the techniques I've become known for and that make my work recognizable can exacerbate the inflammation in my hands and wrists, so I must carefully plan certain processes for when my pain is light. It's also prompted me to look to new processes and techniques that cause less pain but are still recognizable as my work and can still communicate the ideas I want to express. 

In my previous work, my fiber sculptures stood on their own without armatures. But for this series, I've included wire armatures, which represent the adaptive strategies we each use to defend against our personal chronic condition.

At times these armatures loop out of the forms while other times they remain hidden. In one piece, the wire is the entire form, with thin fabric strips  and threads covering the wire. In my group piece, called Family Secrets, external wire armatures rise from a humble plaster cube, where they form towers that suspend each piece above the ground at the height of each member of my family.

The soft and pliable nature of the fibers I use creates a physical representation of the vulnerabilities and resilience of those living with chronic conditions. Through the use of form and technique, my new series illustrates the emotional and physical impact of chronic conditions, while also showing the resilience and strength of people who live with them.